BYD says vehicle sales volume down 15 pct in January

HONG KONG Feb 15 (Reuters) - Chinese car maker BYD Co Ltd (1211.HK), backed by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett, said on Tuesday that its January auto sales volume fell about 15 percent from a year ago.

The battery and car maker sold a total of 52,054 vehicles in January at the wholesale level, down from 61,215 units in the same month last year, the company said in an email to Reuters.

China's auto market, the largest in the world, was expected to see slower growth this year after rising more than 30 percent in 2010 as rising fuel prices, the removal of government subsidies and tighter rules on new car registrations would temper demand, analysts said. (Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Ken Wills)