NEVs purr into spotlight at auto show amid promising prospects
Print Edition
New-energy vehicles take the spotlight at the 15th Beijing International Automotive Exhibition as automakers aim to tap the growing demand for green cars in China.
Auto giants relish the potential of the Chinese market for new-energy vehicles as China aims to have such vehicles account for more than 20 percent of the country’s annual car sales by 2025.
The show comes as China’s market hits a transition period — the explosive growth in car sales seen over the last decade slowed last year and data from early this year point to a continued slump for many vehicle types. Chinese consumers are following their American peers toward sport-utility vehicles while policy-makers push an all-electric future.
Accounting for some 28.9 million car sales last year, the Chinese car market could soon match those of the European Union and United States combined.
General Motors sold over 4 million cars here last year, more than in the US. Volkswagen sold more than 3 million, roughly six times its home market.
The eight-day auto show, to be held today at China International Exhibition Center till May 4, will display 174 new-energy vehicles, according to the official website of the exhibition. Of the 174 new-energy vehicles, 124 are from domestic carmakers and 50 are from global automakers.
Volvo Cars said yesterday that it targets electric cars to account for 50 percent of its total sales by 2025. “Today we reinforce and expand that commitment in the world’s leading market for electric cars. China’s electric future is Volvo Cars’ electric future,” said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive officer of Volvo Cars.
For the first time Volvo Cars will only display plug-in hybrid vehicles at the Beijing auto show. The company also said all of the three Volvo Cars plants in China will soon produce either plug-in hybrid or pure electric vehicles.
German automaker BMW is driving its electrification strategy by extending the reach of its electric vehicle offering in China’s auto market. BMW showed its electric SUV concept car, the BMW Concept iX3, during a media preview at the auto show for the first time yesterday. BMW said it will produce the BMW Concept iX3 in China in 2020 at its BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture.
“China is leading the development of e-mobility. This is why we choose to showcase the BMW iX3 concept car for the first time in Beijing,” said Harald Krueger, chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “2018 underlines the company’s commitment to the next step in its electrification strategy.”
Domestic automakers, meanwhile, are not taking the backseat as they are also developing their own new-energy vehicles banking on the promising future of such vehicles in the country.
Geely unveiled Bo Rui GE, its first intelligent plug-in hybrid sedan jointly developed by Geely and Volvo, at the show. This new-energy vehicle will be launched in the Chinese market in the first half of 2018.
At the same time Geely has also unveiled a 48V mild hybrid version of the Bo Rui GE, which improves fuel economy by 15 percent over a traditional gasoline model. The Chinese carmaker said that more new-energy vehicles will follow the Bo Rui GE.
An Conghui, president and CEO of Geely Auto Group, said that “China will ultimately become the global center of a new energy revolution. We aim to mass produce new-energy vehicles by the year 2020.”
Chinese automaker Great Wall also unveiled its first plug-in hybrid SUV model WEY P8 and its electric concept car WEY-X at the show.
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