BYD to buy Chinese bus manufacturer Silver Bus

Shanghai (Gasgoo) – BYD has agreed to acquire 100% of the shares of Xi’an Silver Bus Co., Ltd. (“Silver Bus”), owned by Xi’an Gaoke Group Co., Ltd. (“Xi’an Gaoke”) for a fee. 166 million yuan ($23.164 million), according to information recently updated on the Xi’an Public Resources Trading Center website.

BYD has not yet commented on this transaction. Some industry insiders believed that the new acquisition would help BYD strengthen its deployment in the field of new energy buses.

Photo credit: Silver Bus

The project to transfer 100% stake in Silver Bus was officially announced through Xi’an Public Resources Trading Center on September 20 this year. According to the announcement, the recipient must be qualified for full-scale vehicle production and undertake the construction of a new energy vehicle (NEV) production base in accordance with local government land use planning with an investment of at least 5 billion yuan ($697.739 million). .

Silver Bus was founded in March 1994 as China’s first high-end bus joint venture. Originally owned by Volvo Buses and Xi’an Aircraft Industry Group, it is now a subsidiary of Xi’an Gaoke. More than 1,600 cars were publicly reported between 1994 and 2000.

BYD has developed a complete industrial network in Xi’an, which includes complete vehicles, electric motors, batteries, etc. In 2014, BYD’s car factory in Xi’an started operating with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units. In 2018, the company signed an agreement to start the construction of the second phase of the Xi’an base, expecting an additional production capacity of 300,000 NEV. The total capacity of the Xi’an plant will increase to 900,000 vehicles after the completion of the third phase.