California honors BYD Motors president as "Woman of the Year"

President of China's electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Motors Stella Li was honored Monday by the California Legislative Women's Caucus with their Woman of the Year award.

BYD Motors president Stella Li speaks at the announcement of the opening of an electric bus manufacturing plant by the Chinese firm BYD, in the Southern California city of Lancaster Wednesday, May 1, 2013. [Photo: AP]

California Assembly member Ed Chau nominated Li, a resident of the San Gabriel Valley, California, as the Woman of the Year for the 49th Assembly District.

The Woman of the Year event was founded in 1987 by Assembly members Bev Hansen and Sally Tanner, who noticed that the California Legislature had no events planned for Women's History Month. Hansen and Tanner arranged an invitation for one woman from each Senate and Assembly district to be honored for their accomplishments at a formal ceremony at the Capitol.

"I hope to be a good example of strong leadership to women around the globe," Li told Xinhua. "Throughout my career I have supported women's health issues. It is my goal to bring more female executives to BYD and create deeper community partnerships."

Under Li's leadership, BYD has achieved exponential international market growth in Europe, North America and Latin America to become a dominant global force in electric vehicles, renewable energy and consumer electronics.

As the architect of BYD's thriving expansions in the Americas, Li established the company's North American headquarters in Los Angeles in 2011 and its manufacturing base for electric buses, trucks and energy modules in Los Angeles County in 2013. The company supports more than 800 full-time workers throughout California.

BYD is the world's largest manufacturer of electric vehicles and is an industry pioneer and leader in electrified transportation, including automobiles, buses, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, SkyRail, forklifts, energy storage, and solar power generation.