Report: sales of hybrid and electric vehicles in China disappoint automakers
07 December 2010
Chinese automakers are disappointed with the sales figures of hybrid and electric vehicles, according to a report in the Global Times.
Due to its poor sales volume, Changan Auto said that its hybrid vehicle Jiexun HEV has gone out of production for one year. “The company didn’t sell any”, a senior executive was quoted as saying about the Jiexun HEV, according to a report in the China Business News on Monday. In addition, BYD said that it has only sold 54 electric vehicles E6 and 290 F3DM hybrids between January and October. And the sales volume of Toyota’s Prius in China has been below 4,000 units for the past three years.
...research company Dratio said that 89 percent of consumers are not interested in purchasing new energy vehicles due to their high price and the lack of supporting facilities...A sales manager of a 4S store of Dongfeng Honda said that consumers are not buying new energy vehicles because they don’t trust the new technology and they don’t want to pay extra in order to save petrol.
Bad news!
Current very low fuel price may have some thing to do with it.
A progressive (announced) higher $2/L to $3/L gasoline price could help.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 December 2010 at 11:15 AM
This is one area where the central Chinese government could just mandate that people buy EVs and HEVs. They do not because of political considerations. They have a huge population that wants affluence and central dictates would just cause friction.
Posted by: SJC | 07 December 2010 at 01:50 PM
We are doomed.
Totalitarianism has less will to thwart the peoples wishes than our own government.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 07 December 2010 at 05:53 PM
TT: That's what happened on the tail end of most empires. WE THE PEOPLE was a great principle 200+ years ago but the meaning has faded away a few decades ago. WE THE LOBBIES and FLOWER PARTIES are in now.
Mind you, totalitarianism, by a few hundred leaders may not be much worst than by a few lobbies.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 December 2010 at 07:27 PM
Rule by the aristocracy by any other name....
Posted by: JMartin | 07 December 2010 at 07:44 PM
China will eventually come to realize as the rest of the world is, that importing fossil energy is addictive, costly and destabilizing. When they grok that completely, they will begin to mandate EVs as a percentage of China`s auto maker output.
For all the purported Chinese economic leverage - why they cannot produce even one decent low cost EV is mind numbing. They pay workers slave wages and STILL cannot make a cheap EV for their masses.
Something in Quang Dong is fishy.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 07 December 2010 at 11:30 PM
Reel$$ has a good point, they may eventually have to mandate, but for now it is status quo.
Posted by: SJC | 07 December 2010 at 11:47 PM
The Chinese want flash, not fuel savings.
The Chinese government wants happy consumers who go to work and don't riot over fuel prices (or anything else).
Some rural parts of China are still very poor so $2 / L is probably a bit much for them.
They should allow fuel prices to rise to unsubsidised levels, and also mandate fuel economy standards.
They should specify what they want to achieve, rather than how to achieve it.
The Chinese will find their own way and do not need prodding from the west.
Posted by: mahonj | 08 December 2010 at 05:32 AM
They have no way to sustain EV's right now and MUST build out an infrastructure to charge them first.
I've been doing business over there since 1996 and the only people who I can ever remember even having a house with a garage and a way to charge them were guys who were super rich and even they were as likely to live in a apartment downtown as anything else.
This would be like trying to build an EV economy around apartment dwellers only in the US: Doomed to fail until you have rapid charging at every corner "filling station" and cars that can handle it. Add on a premium for cost up-front and you get...this situation.
And hey, I'm an EV nut so this is just an observation from someone who wishes it was different over there.
Posted by: DaveD | 08 December 2010 at 06:22 AM
"The Chinese will find their own way and do not need prodding from the west."
In fairness should this not apply equally to the West?
Posted by: Reel$$ | 08 December 2010 at 06:24 AM
"thwart the peoples wishes than our own government"
The majority wanted something done about health care and eliminate tax breaks for the rich. Who is it that is not listening to the people, but claim that their opponents are not?
Posted by: SJC | 11 December 2010 at 01:53 PM