New | California's Long Beach Transit to buy up to 60 BYD electric buses

California's Long Beach Transit will buy up to 60 electric buses this year from China's BYD, the company's biggest order to date from an overseas market.

BYD, partly owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, won the bid at a public hearing in Los Angeles on Monday, according to Sherry Li, marketing director of BYD's overseas group.

"The first batch of 10 buses will be delivered later this year, and following orders for about 50 more would be announced after that," Li said.

The contract win marks a major step for BYD in its push to sell overseas and comes a year after the Federal Transit Administration ruled the Chinese firm was ineligible to bid for a Long Beach transit contract because it did not submit goals for working with businesses owned by minorities or other disadvantaged groups, as required by the agency.

Li said the problem has been solved. "The order means a lot to BYD as the US is the market with the toughest quality and safety standards."

She said BYD also won a contract to sell five electric buses to the Japanese city of Kyoto in February.