GM plans to launch 10 electric hybrid cars in China by 2020
SHANGHAI: General Motors Co. plans to launch 10 electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in China by 2020, an executive said yesterday, as automakers speed up the rollout of alternative vehicles under pressure from Beijing to promote the industry. GM will start production of a pure-electric model in China within two years, Matt Tsien, president of GM China, told a news conference during the Shanghai auto show. He said GM expects annual sales of 150,000 electric and hybrid cars in China by 2020 and possibly in excess of 500,000 by 2025.
Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG, Nissan Motor Co. and other automakers also have announced aggressive plans to make and sell electric vehicles in China, the biggest auto market by number of units sold. On Tuesday, GM unveiled a hybrid version of the Chevrolet Volt to be manufactured in China and sold under its Buick brand. China’s communist government has the world’s most ambitious electric car goals, hoping both to clean up smog-choked cities and to take a lead in an emerging industry. Regulators are pressing foreign brands to help develop the industry.
Regulators jolted the industry by proposing a requirement that electrics account for at least 8 percent of each brand’s production by next year, rising to 10 percent in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020. Automakers say they may be unable to meet those targets and regulators have suggested they might be reduced or postponed. Beijing also is due to enforce what auto executives say are the world’s most stringent emissions standards. They say that is likely to require all manufacturers to include electrics in their lineup to meet targets for average fleet emissions.
“In the next several years, out to 2020, we expect to launch at least 10 new energy vehicles into the marketplace,” said Tsien, using the government’s term for electric and hybrid vehicles. “We have a pipeline that is going to materialize, that’s going to put us in a very good position from a fuel economy requirement perspective.” All the vehicles will be manufactured in China, he said.GM, which competes with VW for the status of China’s top-selling automaker, reported 2016 sales rose 7.1 percent to a record 3.9 million vehicles.
Foreign automakers had been reluctant to sell electric cars in China because regulators required them to transfer valuable intellectual property to local partners or face import duties of 25 percent even if the vehicles were produced at a Chinese factory. —AP