China's leading electric carmaker BYD Auto has signed a major endorsement deal with Hollywood superstar Leonardo Dicaprio to promote its energy vehicles in China. The one-year endorsement deal runs throughout 2017.

The deal with BYD Auto will help DiCaprio to further cement his reputation as a popular environmental activist. The superstar, who won his first Academy Award this year, is known for taking an affirmative stand on environmental and other global issues.

Like Us on Facebook

"All over the world, people are realizing that cars that run on fossil fuels are inefficient and a major threat to the planet," DiCaprio said in a statement. "I am very pleased to be joining an effort to increase the number of clean vehicles on the road in China and beyond."

BYD's tie up with DiCaprio comes at a time when its sales have been growing robustly in domestic as well as the global market.   

The company's sale of electric vehicles in Chinese market saw a whopping rise of 130 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year. The good sales result helped BYD Auto to further consolidate its position in the Chinese market accounting for nearly 65 percent market share. BYD also supplied nearly 11 percent of the global electric cars in the last financial year of 2015.

Apart from focusing on the Chinese market, BYD Auto is also trying to make a dent in the highly competitive American and European markets, where the company has already introduced many energy cars and trucks.

Investors are immensely upbeat about future prospect of the Chinese electric carmaker, with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway being one of its high profile investors.          

TagsBYD Auto, China BYD, Leonardo DiCaprio, china