China’s new energy-vehicle sales forecast for this year has been knocked down to 700,000 from 750,000, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association said at the 2017 China New-Energy Vehicle Industry Ecology Conference in Guangdong yesterday, China Securities Network reported.
The major cause of the decline is a slump in the private sector, Cui said. The bus market is facing a serious inventory problem and whether or not the microcar market can make a breakthrough is not yet clear.
He believes the global status of China’s new-energy vehicles has not improved this year, and the domestic market has seen severe fragmentation, but did not offer a further explanation.
The solid performance of China’s NEV market was mainly due to government subsidies and protection, said Hou Gang, vice president of Chinese microcar maker Shaanxi Tongjia Automobile Co. But there are hidden problems, including repeated low-level investment and construction and a lack of sophisticated technology.
However, Luo Hiuming, vice president of the China New-Energy Microcar Technology Innovation Alliance, predicts that sales of electric microcars in the country will reach three million by 2020. When nationwide ownership of such vehicles reaches 10 million, the market could be worth close to CNY100 billion, (USD15 billion), he added.
Electric microcars are mostly aimed at those in the countryside and on urban-rural borders, Luo said. He expects the market to expand quickly as rural populations and car ownership rises.
Source: yicaiglobal.com
