The first Chinese-made car available for sale in Hawaii is rolling in as a late entry to the First Hawaiian International Auto Show.

The BYD e6, an electric vehicle SUV with a range of 250 miles, also will be the first Chinese-made car to ever appear at the three-day event, which begins at noon today at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. The black four-door, five-passenger BYD e6 will join more than 350 of the newest cars, crossovers, trucks, SUVs, luxury cars and classics at the show.

“It’s always exciting for showgoers to see a ‘first,’” said Dave Rolf, executive director of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association. “Having a car manufactured in China adds even more to the international aspect of the show.”

Honolulu-based Soderholm Bus & Mobility has the one BYD e6 on its lot at 2044 Dillingham Blvd. But Erik Soderholm, who co-owns the business with his wife, Denise, said they are taking orders now and will have more within the next couple of months.

“This is the very first (Chinese-made) car in Hawaii, and we brought it to the show,” said Erik Soderholm, whose dealership landed the franchise for BYD two weeks ago. “We have several people interested in buying them. and we’re selling it in the high $50,000s. It has a 250-mile range.”

Soderholm Bus & Mobility is just getting into the car business after spending about 30 years in Hawaii selling buses and wheelchair-accessible vans. BYD, the world’s No. 1 battery EV manufacturer and the largest maker of rechargeable batteries, builds cars, trucks, buses and forklifts.

“Because we’re a bus dealer, when BYD started selling buses in the United States, I knew the people and I talked to them, and it was sort of a logical thing to take on their buses,” Soderholm said. “I asked them what else they build,and they said they build cars and I said I wanted that. So they ended up giving us everything they build, which is cars, buses, forklifts and trucks.”

Soderholm said that besides the extended range that the BYD e6 has, the manufacturer has designed its own battery.

“All electric vehicles in the world use a lithium ion battery that is volatile, explosive and flammable,” Soderholm said. “BYD has designed its own battery with a chemical makeup called iron phosphate that is not flammable, explosive or volatile. We have a video at the show of a BYD battery on a barbecue, and the battery does not burn.”