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From Shanghai to Almaty: 8,000 testing km and 35 days and BYD's car proves up to the challenge!
[August 29, 2014]

From Shanghai to Almaty: 8,000 testing km and 35 days and BYD's car proves up to the challenge!


(Cision Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) [image][image] After 8,000 km and 35 days the BYD F5 Suri saloon car has proved itself up to the challenge posed by two Dutch guys who are driving from Shanghai to Rotterdam. Their ‘Brand New China’ initiative is seeking to demonstrate that Chinese brands are fully capable of competing in the West and today arrived in Almaty, the largest city in fast developing Kazakhstan.



BYD is delighted to be the principal sponsor of ‘Brand New China’ since the company has design and technology at the core of its culture. The brainchild of two young Dutchmen, Rogier Bikker and Maren Striker, who have lived and worked in China for several years, ‘Brand New China’ involves a 20,000km drive along the former Silk Road through 11 countries using just Chinese brands and products. The journey coincides with the celebration of the 35th year of the sister city relationship between Shanghai and Rotterdam.

Welcoming the team in Almaty today, BYD Europe Managing Director Isbrand Ho said: “I said farewell to Rogier and Maren via a video message 35 days ago. I am delighted to be here in person in Almaty to wish them well on the remainder of their adventure. I’ll be proud to welcome them to their Dutch homeland by the end of October when I’ll be joined by the Mayor of Rotterdam at a special ceremony.


“The BYD F5 Suri car which features on this epic 20,000km drive is a good demonstration of BYD’s design culture. It has not only created a new record scoring 5 star results in the Chinese NCAP crash test, better than many cars made by international brands such as Ford’s Kuga and Volkswagen’s Santana.

“We are very pleased that Rogier and Maren have brought together other famous Chinese brands on board our BYD car for the trip but are delighted that it is the car which will feature most strongly in the TV and other media coverage of their progress”.

Mr Ho said that BYD planned to increase its sales substantially in the dynamic and growing Kazakhstan market. “Selling cars depends upon a host of factors – brand values and identity are key but there are many others. For example, service and reliability. The marathon trip our two Dutch friends are undertaking certainly demonstrates the reliability of BYD cars. A few moments ago they were telling me that they have experienced no problems with the car despite some incredibly challenging road conditions on the way from China”, he said.

In view of the remoteness of some sections of the route, which prevents the deployment of the advanced hybrid or fully electric cars it plans to bring to Europe soon, BYD supplied the Dutch pair with the F5, one of its gasoline fuelled cars.

For regular updates on the progress of ‘Brand New China’ see: www.brandnewchina.net; https://www.facebook.com/bydeurope BYD Europe: Vareseweg 53-59, 3047 AT, Rotterdam Penny Peng:                             +31 –102070888         [email protected] Automotive PR: Martin Hayes (London)                       +44 (0)20 7952 1070 [email protected] About BYD BYD Company Ltd.  (http://www.byd.com/)is one of China’s largest companies to have successfully expanded globally. Specializing in battery technologies, their green mission to “solve the whole problem” has made them industry pioneers and leaders in several High-tech sectors including High-efficiency Automobiles, Electrified Public Transportation, Environmentally-Friendly Energy Storage, Affordable Solar Power and Information Technology and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) services.

As the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries, their mission to create safer and more environmentally  friendly  battery  technologies  has  lead  to  the  development  of  the  BYD  Iron (http://www.byd.com/na/auto/FeBattery.html) Phosphate (or "Fe") Battery (http://www.byd.com/na/auto/FeBattery.html). This fire-safe, completely recyclable and incredibly long-cycle technology has become the core of their clean energy platform that has expanded into automobiles, buses, trucks, utility vehicles and energy storage facilities. BYD and all of their shareholders, including the great American Investor Warren Buffett, see these environmentally and economically forward products as the way of the future.

BYD has made a strong entrance to the North, Central and South American markets with their battery electric buses, and lineup of automobiles. Their mission lies not just in sales growth, but also in sociological integration and local job creation as they have poured incredible investments into developing offices, dealerships and manufacturing facilities in the local communities they now call home, truly a first for Chinese companies. For more information, please visit www.byd.com or www.facebook.com/bydcompany .

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.comhttp://news.cision.com/automotive-pr/r/from-shanghai-to-almaty--8-000-testing-km-and-35-days-and-byd-s-car-proves-up-to-the-challenge-,c9636153The following files are available for download:http://news.cision.com/automotive-pr/i/byd-f5-suri-challenge-2,c1537887 BYD F5 Suri challenge 2http://news.cision.com/automotive-pr/i/byd-f5-suri-challenge-1,c1537888 BYD F5 Suri challenge 1 (c) 2014 Cision. All Rights Reserved.

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