Honda president downplays BYD electric car

Shanghai, November 25 (Gasgoo.com) In a recent interview by auto163.com, Honda President Takeo Fukui said he didn’t think highly of BYD’s research and development of electric cars.

Speaking of the electric vehicle (EV) development, Fukui said as the EV technology is still not mature, it is impossible to push out the electric cars now. The key point is it is hard to solve the problems of battery, especially for the extension of battery life. The existing electric cars now can only reach as far as 100 km, reflecting a difficult situation for mass production and commercialization. 

Fukui said he didn’t expect BYD’s research and development of electric cars to be good. Apart from that, Fukui showed his confidence in the Chinese auto market in 2009. He noted that despite the global financial crisis, Chinese auto market will maintain a 5% growth next year as a direct result of the overall economic growth in China.

Compared to Europe and some other neighboring countries, China was relatively less affected by the financial crisis. Fukui predicted that the Chinese auto market will see sales volume at around 9.4 million units for this year.

Honda will continue to put emphasis on the Chinese market and also increase investment in China in the coming years, Fukui said.