HONG KONG/TAIPEI - BYD Co Ltd, an auto and battery maker based in Shenzhen in the Chinese mainland and backed by Warren Buffett, said on Thursday that it will start shipments of electric buses to Taiwan by the end of 2011 and the next step could be setting up a production plant there, Reuters reported.

"We are selling electric buses to Taiwan, and building a plant there could be the next step but probably not that soon, not on the agenda yet," said BYD spokesman Paul Lin.

Taiwan's Economic Daily reported that executives of BYD had been visiting Taiwan recently, and were impressed by local bus makers and that talks were ongoing with two unidentified companies, citing "market talk".

BYD had secured orders from Taiwan and the first shipment, a small quantity, was expected by the end of the year, Lin said. "We have a lot of orders from Shenzhen, Europe and the United States; more than what we can produce now."

BYD has shipped 250 electric buses to Shenzhen and planned to deliver to Hong Kong in November, he said.

Singapore would get BYD electric buses this year, with the United States and Europe in line for 2012, he said.

Investors were disappointed after the company kept pushing back its sales schedule for electric cars. BYD sold a total of only 480 units of its F3DM hybrid and e6 electric cars models. It has also delayed the US launch of the e6 until 2012.

BYD shares have lost 21 percent of their value in the past two days after the company warned that it could post a third-quarter loss as it struggles with sales declines and the waning popularity of its top model.

The selloff had stabilized on Thursday with the stock rising 3.9 percent, outperforming a 1.6 percent gain by the Hang Seng Index .