Originally published Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 12:00 AM

China battery maker to roll out hybrid car

With the Detroit Big Three automakers teetering and China's once go-go car market in reverse, this might seem a bad time for a relative unknown to be launching a new vehicle. Then again, BYD isn't rolling out any ordinary car.

By Los Angeles Times

SHENZHEN, China — With the Detroit Big Three automakers teetering and China's once go-go car market in reverse, this might seem a bad time for a relative unknown to be launching a new vehicle. Then again, BYD isn't rolling out any ordinary car.

On Monday, the upstart company best known for making cellphone batteries will begin selling its F3DM: China's first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle. The car is expected to retail for around $20,000 in China and make its way to the U.S. in 2011.

"For a long time, China's auto technology was undeveloped," BYD founder and President Wang Chuanfu, 42, said in an interview Friday. "But our (electric-car) technology marks the first time we're standing as a leader on the world stage."

Since starting the company in 1995, Wang has built BYD, short for Build Your Dream, into the world's leading producer of rechargeable batteries for mobile phones and laptops, among other products.

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