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Article written by Togg Wooddy published in The New York Times, October 29, 2013LOS ANGELES — THERE’S a newcomer to this city’s auto row. Compared to the shiny showrooms displaying the latest Mercedeses and Toyotas, the Chinese carmaker BYD’s outpost in the shadow of downtown skyscrapers looks rather forlorn.Just two of its models — a red electric sport utility vehicle and a brown gasoline-powered sedan — are on view in an otherwise empty storefront.But it’s the pair of 40-foot-long battery-powered buses parked across the street that is driving the company’s ambitions to become the first Chinese automaker to break into the United States market.BYD this year became the first Chinese vehicle company to open manufacturing sites in the United States, building an electric bus assembly plant and a separate battery factory in Lancaster, a desert community 75 miles north of Los Angeles.The $30 billion company beat American competitors to win contracts to build electric buses for transit agencies in Los Angeles and nearby Long Beach. BYD is also pursuing deals to supply electric shuttle buses to rental car agencies, amusement parks and Silicon Valley technology companies.In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority began a two-month road-test of BYD’s battery-powered eBus in September.“Buses are on the street and highly visible, so it’s a good way to get our name out there and build our reputation,” said Brendan Riley, BYD’s vice president for fleet sales, at the Los Angeles showroom.“Once transit agencies work with BYD and understand BYD is going to take care of them with their bus fleets, we’ll get them to try our electric cars,” he added.BYD first came to Americans’ attention in 2008 when the billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett bought 10 percent of the company, convinced that it would dominate China’s electric car market.Founded in 1995 as a mobile phone battery manufacturer, BYD has grown into a conglomerate that makes cars, buses, energy storage systems, solar panels, LED lighting and phones. Like other Chinese automakers, BYD has benefited from loans from state-owned banks and contracts to supply its electric vehicles to Chinese municipalities.The company has sold electric cars in China since 2008 but is moving cautiously into the American market. Mr. Riley said BYD was mindful of Chinese cars’ reputation for poor quality and of Hyundai’s disastrous United States debut in 1986, when the South Korean company began selling a poorly built compact car that ruined its reputation for years.Read the full text of the article on The New York TimesRelated articlesBYD websiteBYD electric bus, WikipediaBYD's electric bus on Big Apple's streets, China Daily, http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-09/18/content_16978814.htmHua Wang Affiliation : Euromed Management Marseille; Chris Kimble Affiliation : Euromed Management Marseille and MRM-CREGOR at Universite Montpelier II, Innovation and Leapfrogging in the Chinese Automobile Industry: Examples From Geely, BYD, and ShifengGlobal Business and Organizational Excellence, v32 n6 (September/October 2013): 6-17 Wiley Online LibraryZheng, H. M., Yang, C. K., Mou, T. H., &#38; Du, F. (2013, October). The Growth and Expansion Path of BYD Company Limited and its Innovation Model*. In International Academic Workshop on Social Science (IAW-SC-13). Full text of the article avalaible on atlantis-press.com [PDF]