Eugene Hoshiko / AP
Chinese automaker aims for global lead
Fast-growing Chinese battery and automaker BYD aims to overtake Toyota to become the global auto leader in under two decades, company officials say. BYD expects to sell 400,000 cars this year and wants to sell 10 million by 2025. Toyota sold 9 million cars and trucks in 2008. Although it started out building conventional cars, late last year it launched a mass production plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can be charged off a standard home outlet. The company plans to sell an all-electric vehicle in the U.S. by next year.
--Associated Press
AP
Lamborghini expects to be profitable in '09
Lamborghini unveiled its Reventon Roadster -- a two-seater that looks like a bullet (right) -- at the Frankfurt Auto Show last month, and announced it expects to be profitable this year despite sales setbacks during the economic downturn. For the six months ended in June, Lamborghini, which is owned by Volkswagen, reported an operating profit of $8 million on 825 cars delivered. While the U.S. market, the company's biggest, saw sales fall more than 50 percent during the first half of the year, developing markets helped maintain the company's sales.
--Associated Press
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