Posted on 05/29/2012 9:57:24 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
BEIJING -- The Warren Buffet-backed Chinese carmaker BYD Co. defended the safety of its e6 electric car Tuesday after the vehicle was involved in a fiery collision that killed three people and raised new concerns about one of China’s most ambitious companies.
BYD, which was considered one of China’s most promising brands just a few years ago, said Saturday's crash in the southern city of Shenzhen took place after a drunk driver in a Nissan GT-R coupe, speeding at 112 mph, slammed into an e6 taxi, killing the driver and two passengers.
The driver of the Nissan sports car fled the scene, which drew massive attention on China's Twitter-like micro-blogs, where stories of rich people behaving badly are wildly popular. The accident has been one of the top trending topics for days.
"Interest in the crash was far heavier than we could have imagined," Paul Lin, a spokesman for the Shenzhen-based BYD, said in a phone interview Tuesday. "We are very sorry for the deaths, and we are trying, of course, to find out why the car set on fire."
The attention from social media is why BYD stock may have plunged om the first day of trading after the accident, Lin said.
BYD shares fell 5.9% in Hong Kong and 2.6% in Shenzhen on Monday. The stock recovered Tuesday, climbing 5.5% in Hong Kong and 2.3% in Shenzhen.
BYD said in a written statement Tuesday that the e6 had passed all government tests and had been used as taxis in Shenzhen for more than two years. In that time, the car has been involved in 18 rear-end collisions. None resulted in injuries, fatalities or fire, the company said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I wouldn’t blame the car on this one. Getting rear-ended by another vehicle doing in excess of 110 MPH is gonna be a bad day no matter what you’re sitting in.
If that crash had occured at 112 MPH, the taxi would be considerably shorter, and the Nissan driver would not have walked away. Most likely the crash was preceeded by the massive squeeling of brakes, as the Nissan slowed from 112 MPH to something like 30 MPH, and the resulting crumpling of the taxi is the result.
That said, there are plenty of cars that will do little to protect you in a 30 MPH rear-end collision. It looks like the seats did not collapse, which is a good sign. Too bad about the fire, but stuff happens in accidents that can not always be forseen.
What if you are driving a Bucyrus MT6300AC?
You'd be fine in that as long as you had the heavy-duty windshield wiper option.
Since you are not likely to notice the accident, you will likely be charged with leaving the scene of the accident.
Loaded or empty?
I don’t know about that...
On a road march back in the early 70’s, my unit’s M-88 was rear ended by a Porsche.
The crew was surprised when they got back to base an hour or so later...
I was tired, and uninterested in going down to see if he had chipped the (layers of) paint.
Wow, FR rocks! It didn’t take but 7 posts for someone to relate this to their own experience of a rear-end impact with the heaviest tracked vehicle in the US military at the time.
The truck or the driver?
The Chinese bloggers need to assign a squad to the Kennedys USA
I absolutely agree. This is obviously a “low speed” impact. sd
Warren, as much as I like 99% of your stock picks (for instance BNSF Railroad), BYD is one that I don't want to be associated with...(matter of fact I wouldn't want to be in a CHINESE MADE BUICK!!)
Well played, sir, well played.
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