classic car

BYD, a company famous for its blatant Mercedes-Benz copy, the S8, has been trying to get into the US market for some time. They've made considerable progress towards that goal at the Detroit Auto Show so far, releasing the E6 Electric crossover that's supposedly bound for the US, but one other US debut has been eclipsed by this car, even though it debuted last year. Enter the BYD F3DM. Based off of their last-gen Toyota Corolla-copy sedan, the F3, the F3DM is an all-electric small sedan that starts at about $22,000 in its home market, with technology that should be considered groundbreaking for a Chinese car. In fact, this technology is almost a better system than that in the Chevrolet Volt in that it uses the combined power of the electric motor and a small gas engine to power the car, where the Volt uses the gas engine only in braking. This means the car seems more powerful, if louder. The F3DM debuted as a concept at Detroit last year, but production didn't start until recently. The F3DM is supposedly bound for the United States in 2011. You can see the F3DM and E6 electrics along the Electric Avenue at the Detroit Auto Show this year.