BYD Auto to launch its first MPV model M6 in '09

Shanghai, February 2 (Gasgoo.com) BYD Auto has recently announced that it will enter the MPV market in 2009 by launching its first ever MPV model M6, said xinhuanet.com today. BYD will target its self-developed M6 at the high-end MPV market.

Disclosed two weeks ago, the M6 has been identified as BYD's first flagship MPV model to be released this year. By the appearance, the M6 seems to have abandoned the conservative and old-fashioned look of traditional MPVs, with its dynamic front and streamlined body shapes quite different from other models.

Measuring 4,600mm x 1,760mm x 1,490mm with a 2,950mm wheelbase, the M6 is the first MPV model BYD has ever developed. The company will launch the M6 as a high-quality MPV model, which will also be China's first home-grown MPV model for the high-end MPV segment. The MPV market in China has huge potentials for automakers to explore and BYD is speeding up to seize this opportunity.

BYD Auto aims to more than double its car sales to 40,000 units this year by launching more new car models. The company sold about 170,000 vehicles in 2008, a huge increase from its sales of 90,000 vehicles in 2007. Much of that growth came from strong sales of the company's small cars, particularly the F0 subcompact and the F3 compact sedan.

BYD plans to launch at least five new vehicle models in 2009, including F5, F4 mid-sized sedan models, the M6 MPV, S6 SUV, and the F8 hardtop convertible models. The 2.0L M6 MPV will be put to market in October and is expected to sell 5,000 units by the year end. It will be sold by the BYD A3 network.

Following its Chinese launch of the F3DM in December 2008 as the world's first plug-in hybrid production car, BYD may also release two more electric vehicle models, the e6 and F6DM, this year. BYD plans to sell its electric cars in the U.S. by 2011.