Detroit 2010: BYD shows cutaway F3DM plug-in

Detroit 2010: BYD shows cutaway F3DM plug-in

Somehow it feels like there’s just no American motorshow that passes without BYD showcasing their F3DM plug-in electric hybrid car. The F3 itself we’ve seen many times, appearing first on this blog back in 2005. At that point the F3’s unique selling point was of course the ability for its owner to have either a copy of a Toyota Corolla or a Honda City, depending on what angle you’re looking at the car.

Now, the F3DM variant of the F3 has a plug-in hybrid powertrain! Range per charge for the batteries alone are expected to clock in at 100km. The gasoline engine component is a 1.0 litre unit and when combined with the electric motor, total output is rated at 168 horses and 400Nm of torque.

Anyway this time, BYD’s booth is located right at the corner of the two ‘lanes’ that make up the Electric Avenue. Two units of the F3 is accompanied by one cut-away model which allows us to check out some of the gizmos underneath that allow for the car’s dual-mode hybrid operation. Yes, the F3DM can run on electric power only, meaning it has zero emissions operation. BYD is the same Chinese company which Warren Buffet has invested in.

The full gallery is available after the jump.

[zenphotopress number=999 album=747]

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Bruce Ban on Jan 12, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    look like copy and paste job…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • skywalker (Member) on Jan 12, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    Old Vios + Old City + Gen.2 headlight = BYD F3DM

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Satay on Jan 12, 2010 at 4:13 pm

    but better than others Nation car such as boleh land

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • vios and city rite

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  • dejavu on Jan 12, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    Paul,

    Ever asked any Chinese car maker spokesperson y of all names to be given, did they choose names tat r similar to codes, eg. B130, F3DM etc. Sounds like some prototype/half-baked/unfinished project.

    Also, do we ever get d chance of asking them d design background of d plainly obvious design similarities of other more established models?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • lolipop (Member) on Jan 12, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    Altis and City.. even Toyota is suing BYD few yrs ago.. but who cares??

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Keith Duckworth on Jan 12, 2010 at 4:41 pm

    Its true that China is a copy cat – but they are very very good at it. Look at their new bullet train. It is also a copy but it works and its faster than the Shinkansen. I also understand that the extension line for the LRT in Klang valley may be awarded to China company..Ha Ha !

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • littleboy on Jan 12, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    copy cat's world…..those communist sholud sham of themselves….tak ppls' ass and stick on their face!!!!

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  • mkrafz on Jan 12, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    what a shame..

    just another bad copy-paste china car maker..

    ya u will drove one of this thing..

    in a BIG PAPER BAG stuck in you head!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • tokmoh on Jan 12, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    Keith Duckworth : Their bullet train is built by Siemens. It's German engineering yo.

    Regarding LRT extension, that I'm not sure. I'm only certain it'll pass through Subang Jaya (YAAAAAYY!!!), Putra Heights n Puchong. And that it'll be completed in 2013 (hopefully).

    IMHO, it's more likely that it'll be awarded to the same company(s) that built Kelana Jaya n Ampang-Sri Petaling LRT lines.

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  • mytouch on Jan 12, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    Hahaha,so funny,they relly clone it out, "brovo" to ther creative designer for the "tough" designing job…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Boink on Jan 12, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    have no idea what i am looking at, Warren Buffet you say; this is something…

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  • kickoutstupidbasher on Jan 12, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    the tech look good…

    but the 'casing' ayoo….Boleh copY Daa~

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • LordSatan on Jan 12, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    Weird design. CnP concept! Why cant they come out with their own design??

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • any paultan.org-cloned for chinese car fan? just want to see what are their comments about their own manufactured car. would they bashed the manufac for copying altis or they would bash toyota for making altis look like theirs. haha.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • jeffrey on Jan 12, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    Paul, u should let the guys see the CHERY A3,that's a much better design

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • kikas on Jan 12, 2010 at 7:56 pm

    @Tokmoh, You are really living under the coconut shell. They have absorbed German, French and Japanese technology to build their bullet train. They build it on their own; it not build by Siemens. Read up before commenting to show your ignorance.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Gajen on Jan 12, 2010 at 9:00 pm

    gosh….70% copied from old altis…the front,the interior exact same design…the back is from the old city….

    no creativity at all

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • azrai on Jan 12, 2010 at 9:14 pm

    Cap Aya's altis.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • squawk on Jan 12, 2010 at 10:09 pm

    Doesn't matter copy or not, the fact is China is embracing green technology faster than America. Not just with cars but all other aspects as well.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Mazda 3 MPS on Jan 12, 2010 at 11:12 pm

    i think this is a good car. when compared to a proton gen-2.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • cmc80 on Jan 13, 2010 at 12:10 am

    old vios + old altis + old city = weire

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Chinese carmakers wont success in their whole life if they still only know to copy + paste. Stupid BYD

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Thomas on Jan 13, 2010 at 1:38 am

    It's Corolla+City.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • LOL…toyota corolla altis clone…

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  • Elvis on Jan 13, 2010 at 2:39 am

    We can make jokes of BYD but just to inform you guys BYD is the same company that manufacture Apple Iphone and Ipod. Yupp, this chinese company can really produce a very complicated Iphone. Until today, i still find Iphone a remarkable piece of technology, and no other producers come close. Even US based companies unable to copy BYD manufacturing of Apple products. I am betting 100% of my fortune that BYD will be the first company to roll out mass produce electric cars. US based or Japan based wont be able to complete….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Paul Tan on Jan 13, 2010 at 4:31 am

    BYD supplies the batteries for the iPhone.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • WoCaoNiMa on Jan 13, 2010 at 6:05 am

    Paul…why are you spreading lies? All the Iphones for mainland China market are OEMed by BYD!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Paul Tan on Jan 13, 2010 at 6:24 am

    Nope. The assembler of the iPhone is Foxconn.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • David on Jan 13, 2010 at 7:00 am

    come on, wake up guys.The sale point of the car is plug in. The car compnay did not waste money on the style. they did not violate others pattern since nobody win the law suite.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • tokmoh on Jan 13, 2010 at 7:02 am

    kikas : Sori lah abang genius teramat pandai sangat… aku ni setakat baca benda dari wikipedia…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuhan-Guangzhou_High…

    Rolling stocks are CRH2C and CRH3C

    CRH2C is a modified E2-1000 Series Shinkansen design from Japan

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_CRH2

    The CRH3 is a version of the Siemens Velaro high-speed train used in China

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railways_CRH3

    It's a bit like airliners. Built by Boeing and Airbus. But named according to airlines that operate them. Singapore Airlines A380-800, does that mean this airliner is built by SIA themselves?!?!

    Claiming they built it themselves is like Perodua claiming they built the Myvi, Viva, Alza themselves. Yeah rite.

    The technology still belongs to the German and Japanese. U think China Railways can suka-suka later build n sell their trains to others without permission from Siemens or Kawasaki Heavy Industries?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • WoCaoNiMa on Jan 13, 2010 at 7:03 am

    Emmmm, I said the Iphones for mainland China market aka China Unicom's iPhone. And do you know why BYD could knock Foxconn out for OEMing China Unicom's iPhone? Cuz its offer is USD110 per unit.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • samn (Member) on Jan 13, 2010 at 7:20 am

    OMG…it is an old Altis clone. The exterior they changed a little bit but the interior is exactly the same. I saw somewhere in the net rumours have that BYD bought the old Altis design from Toyota, but not too sure the truth of the facts, otherwise Toyota would have sued BYD for copyright infringements and BYD won't dare to display this car in Detroit.

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  • Paul Tan on Jan 13, 2010 at 7:35 am

    thats great news for byd

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • well, Buffett has said that in 20 years time, all cars on the road would be electric, which is why he invested in BYD.

    anyway, right now, the F3 still looks mundane.

    if it was up to me, i would partner the engine with something equally futuristic as well. the CR-Z is a good example.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • kazakh on Jan 13, 2010 at 8:09 pm

    Viva Amerikka,

    i live the amerikkan dream, drive nice, originally designed car, most proly US made, 6 liters, 500HP, etc.

    ain't that shit and all kind of it was the begginer of the world crisis…

    stupid s gringos…

    when u'll start thinking wider, outta box?

    lost gen, stfu

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • alvin_chan on Jan 13, 2010 at 8:36 pm

    good day to Paul and all Paultan.org Forumers:

    Actually I sat at 1 of this BYD before, to be frank I was shock that it is an exact replica of Toyota Altis (Which I am driving 1), but with Honda City's Butt…. haha.. In fact it was my Wedding Car when I married my wife in Guizhou China, but I think most of you all don't know that actually the quality built for the car is not that bad after all….. My wife's village is on the uphill where potholes, mud, snow, ice dung are almost everywhere, with tight and deadly corners on the way up…. but this car can cheaufeur us comfortably and it is DAMN cheap… I admit this is a work of copycat but I can deny the fact that China made products made for local market are actually better than the import ones…. they are given 5 year warranty and 6 months free service if I am not mistaken…. And I don't think Toyota sued the company as I saw all parts are OEM from them….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • alvin_chan on Jan 13, 2010 at 8:38 pm

    Oh ya, do visit my facebook ([email protected]) and check it out my wedding in China, where i snapped the bumpy roads, my WEDDING car and so on…..

    May everyone be blessed with good health and prosperity..

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  • alvin_chan on Jan 13, 2010 at 8:52 pm

    I admit this is a work of copycat but I can deny the fact that China made products made for local market are actually better than the "import" ones

    Oops, actually I would like to say "export" models. A thousand apologies.

    Cheers..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Elvis on Jan 14, 2010 at 1:25 am

    Oops….that's Paul for correcting me. But what i know is without Balda technoloy manufactured in China, Iphone would not take off. So you have Balda and BYD for making Iphone possible…correct me if i am wrong…

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  • xzibit on Jan 14, 2010 at 5:28 am

    its toyota altis .. not vios .. common …

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  • kikas on Jan 14, 2010 at 5:43 am

    @tokmoh, At least now you did some reading though I won't say that Wikipedia is completely reliable but it's an improvement…

    The Chinese have been doing projects to upgrade the speed of their trains for many years now. For the chance to take part in these large and lucrative projects, the Chinese have demanded that foreign firms transfer certain core technologies. Siemens was the first to do so; the Japanese were holding out for many years and Alstom (French) is still holding out – that's why the French are not well represented in recent high speed projects.

    So certainly you cannot say that the trains are built by Siemens as you claim earlier ; the Chinese are buiding the high-speed trains themselves incorporating the transferred technologies from Siemens and Kawasaki.

    Your example using Perodua is not correct; Perodua should be considered an assember and at most a licensed user of technology; Proton would be the better example. Mitsubishi has transferred technology to Proton in the earlier Saga and Wira cars. Did Proton has any difficulty in selling these Mitsubishi clones overseas? Of course no! Proton not only can claim these transferred technologies as its own; it can also improve on them and incorporate them into other car models.

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  • informalaysia on Jan 16, 2010 at 8:45 pm

    kikas,

    i don't know if you can really call it building a train when most of the core technology is taken from outside especially transrapid, bombardier, siemens, etc2… they report it's a joint design but they didn't specifically say who designed what.. my guess is that the europeans and japanese provides the core technology and the chinese designs the rest (you didn't seriously think it's vice versa, did you?).. and yes, it's something like proton if you wanna call it that..

    so, logically, if you call those saga n wira as mitsubishi clones, then it's also fair to call these trains as clone-maglevs or clone high-speed trains, right?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Elvis on Jan 16, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    I remember years ago, our BeeEnd Boleh also want to build a high speed train. Want happen to this 1Malaysia transcrossing trains?

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