|
Automakers compete to bring hybrids to hot Chinese market
Filed under: Opinion, Hybrid
China auto makers are becoming big players in the development of hybrid vehicles. Why? Because more and more companies are looking at the country that it will be the world’s biggest auto market, even surpassing the U.S. by the next decade.
China’s drive into the hybrid market may be surprising to some because they expected the consumer base of the country would be focused on low cost products. Instead, explained Dr. David Chen, general manager of General Motors’ Beijing Operations of automotive technologies, there is a broad range of consumers from cost conscious to those who are focusing on high end vehicles. That is why GM is exploring multiple technologies, including “bridge technologies” which use hybrids and alternative fuels.
That’s where China is expected to come in. Shanghai General Motors will be releasing its first hybrid in the form of the Buick Lacrosse in China fuel economy whose hybrid system improved fuel economy by more than 15 percent. But even more important, it is said, that the technology used to make a hybrid Lacrosse is affordable.
Calling it an “entry level introduction,” Chen argues that it will be easier to reach the mass market with a 15 percent fuel economy vehicle that is affordable.
The Chinese government is also considering offering incentives like tax breaks similar to those offered in other countries.
Also, expect technologies include not just hybrids but also biofuels, fuel cells, ethanol, methanol, biofuels and coal-to-liquid. Expect also to see some level of fuel cell vehicles.
|
|