- BYD, China's largest carmaker of electrically powered vehicles, announced it would build an assembly plant for electric vehicles in Lancaster (California), in the United States. Work will begin on May 1, 2013.

- The future plant will produce electric buses for public transport companies in North America and South America. The carmaker stated that the vehicles produced in Lancaster will respect the specific emission standards of California.

- BYD intends to assemble in this plant fifty electric buses in 2013 and a hundred a year from 2014. Approved to be driven on U.S. roads since March, the BYD K9 electric bus has been tested by Hertz (car rental company) to transport passengers between the airport and its own rental sites. The first specimens of this particular electric bus should be supplied to the airport of Los Angeles, Stanford University and at the headquarters of the Apple computer company.

- The announcement was given just weeks after the creation of a joint venture in Europe for the establishment of a similar assembly plant in Bulgaria. To date, BYD has sold more than 300 electric buses worldwide and has received in 2013 orders for more than 1,300 buses making it the largest manufacturer of electric buses in the world.