Chinese carmakers show goods in Geneva as sales tank at home
GENEVA: Chinese carmakers have flocked to this year’s Geneva International Motor Show, eager to present new electric models to a global crowd as traditional car sales shrink at home.
State-run giant Beijing Automotive ( BAIC), China’s fi fth largest carmaker, has turned up in Switzerland with its small electric and hybrid unit BJEV, which is partially owned by Daimler.
Its booth boasts two futuristiclooking electrical concept cars, an SUV and a sports car, under BJEV’s premium sub-brand Arcfox.
Nearby, Chinese start-up Aiways, founded just two years ago, is meanwhile showing off a fully electric and hyperconnected SUV that it wants to see compete against far pricier high- end German models.
Aiways only counts around 1,000 employees, but it aims to play in the big leagues.
It has reached deals with Siemens and Bosch and has hired Roland Gumpert -- the designer of Audi’s Quattro of 1980s rally fame -- as its new product chief.
“Commercialisation will begin in China in late 2019 and in Europe in 2020,” Gumpert said in Geneva.
The group has a factory in China capable of pushing out 150,000 vehicles a year, with the possibility of doubling that number.
“I think that the participation of Chinese auto companies in international auto shows in Europe or North America will allow them to promote their brand internationally,” said Cui Dongshu, secretary- general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
This “gives them an opportunity to understand other international brands,” he said, adding that coming to Geneva also offers a chance “to test the international consumers’ recognition of Chinese products.”
A year ago, Lynk& Co -- a brand created in 2016 by China’s Geely, which also owns Swedish Volvo -- confi rmed its ambition to release electric models in Europe in 2020.
The cars, it said, would be designed in China but made in Belgium, with the aim eventually of conquering the Holy Grail: the US market.
And the audacious Shanghai start-up NIO, a declared rival of Tesla, even sped onto Wall Street last September: After launching an electric SUV model in China, the company has set its sights on commercialising its ultrasophisticated vehicles in the US starting next year.
And BYD, another Chinese electric vehicle company, already has wheels down in Europe with a range of “clean-fuel” buses.
The group last year received a permit to build an assembly factory for its electric buses in northern France, and is planning to enter markets on both sides of the Atlantic with new electric car models.
Last year, car sales in China declined by 2.8 per cent, to 28.1 million vehicles, marking their fi rst fall in two decades.
Sales of electric vehicles and hybrids have meanwhile continued to swell, jumping 62 per cent last year. With significant support from Beijing, Chinese companies have gotten a head start in the electric market over most historic carmakers.
Tesla remains in the lead, but is followed by three Chinese brands, BAIC, BYD and Zotye, according to Jato Dynamics. — AFP