If you have shopped at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or virtually any other Mart recently you probably noticed that finding something on the shelf that doesn’t have a “Made in China” sticker on it is about as easy as singing “The Star Spangled Banner” with your mouth filled to the brim with peanut butter. But would you be willing to shell out thousands of your hard-earned American dollars for a Chinese-made electric car? Well, if things go as planned for Chinese auto maker BYD, you’ll soon have an opportunity to do just that.
According to BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu, the company plans to bring its high-end e6 model to a showroom near you as early as next year. On the surface, the deal sounds pretty good. With a selling price of $40,000, the electric-only BYD e6 can travel up to 250 miles on a fully charged battery (charging the Lithium Ion battery takes up to 9 hours). Not bad at all for city driving, especially when you consider the fact that there are no fossil fuels required whatsoever.
Of course it remains to be seen whether the average American consumer will be willing to shell out such a hefty price for a Chinese-made vehicle, but since we seem to have no qualms about paying $2,000 for a Chinese-made television set, the answer is most likely going to be yes.