BYD Outlines Plans for EV Sales; Government Agencies to Get E6 First

BYD Auto has captured a fair share of headlines lately for a range of different reasons. From the announcement a few weeks back detailing the company's plan to open its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles to discussion of cutting back electric vehicle production, we can confess that BYD continues to confuse us with conflicting info.

Even though the company has repeatedly stated that it plans to launch the E6 in the U.S. before the end of the year, we still have doubts, but now the company has come forth with some detailed sales plans. According to Fred Ni, BYD's general manager of North American operations, the company will begin fleet sales of the E6 to government agencies by the end of the year and will begin to gauge feedback. Ni also walked back some of the company's previous claims, saying BYD may not immediately start marketing the vehicle to individuals. Now, this doesn't indicate that the E6 won't be available by the end of the year, but it does suggest that getting into one may require some sort of government badge. This all raises a new question: will any U.S. government agencies actually commit to purchasing a Chinese-built vehicle?