BYD to invest 3 bln yuan in new plant in Hunan

BYD Co, China's largest rechargeable battery maker and a well-known automobile producer, has signed an agreement with the Hunan Environmental Protection Sci-Tech Industrial Park to take over Hunan Sanxiang Bus Group Co Ltd from the Midea Group, a Chinese-language newspaper reported on Monday.

Under the agreement, BYD will pay cash to take full control of the bus maker and will set up its new-energy car plant in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, to build its C3 and C6 microbus models.

BYD will invest 3 billion yuan ($439 million) during the first phase of the construction, which is set to begin in late September.

The price of the transaction was not revealed.

The government of Hunan says BYD's new base will be the biggest project in the region's automobile industry. BYD expects that the new plant will help expand its product line.

BYD, which currently has two manufacturing bases in China, sold 176,795 vehicles in the first half of this year, representing a significant growth of 176% from a year earlier, sources reported. In June alone, BYD sold 34,246 vehicles compared with 15,173 units a year earlier.