Nissan Motor Co’s first electric sedan designed for China yesterday began production at the start of a wave of dozens of planned lower-cost electric vehicles (EVs) being produced by global automakers for their biggest market.
Manufacturers, including General Motors Co (GM) and Volkswagen AG, are this year to launch a flood of electric sedans, minivans and sports utility vehicles in China designed for local tastes and smaller budgets.
Nissan, Tesla Motors Inc, GM and others sell imported electric cars or electrified versions of models made by Chinese partners, but the market is dominated by low-cost local rivals including BYD Co (比亞迪).
Photo: AP
The Chinese government sees electric cars as a promising industry and a way to clean up its smog-choked cities.
It has spent heavily on subsidies to Chinese producers, and is shifting the burden to automakers with sales quotas and tougher fuel efficiency standards.
The Sylphy Zero Emission, based on Nissan’s Leaf, is being produced by Nissan and a Chinese partner, Dongfeng Group (東風集團).
The Sylphy costs 166,000 yuan (US$25,850) after government subsidies, or just more than half the sticker price of the Chinese version of the Leaf sold by Nissan and Dongfeng’s joint venture Venucia brand.
The Sylphy can go 338km on a charge, Nissan has said.
“We’re confident that the Sylphy Zero Emission rolling off the production line today will become a main player in the EV market,” Nissan chief executive officer Hiroto Saikawa said yesterday.
“We’re going to roll out a range of EVs that will appeal to customers within all market segments,” he said.
Sales quotas that are to take effect next year require every brand to sell electric vehicles or buy credits from competitors that do.
That puts pressure on automakers to design models that Chinese want and can afford.
China last year accounted for half of global electric car sales, but almost all of those came from Chinese brands including BYD Auto and BAIC Group (北汽集團).
Their prices start as low as 140,000 yuan.
“Basically, all these international giants are testing the water. They have not really launched their heavyweight models in China yet,” said industry analyst Yale Zhang (張豫) of Automotive Foresight.
“By the end of this year, things will be different,” Zhang said. “We really will see the market become more competitive and consumers will have more to choose.”
Chinese government plans call for total annual sales of 2 million electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles by 2020, up from last year’s 770,000.
GM has said it will roll out 10 electric and hybrid models in China from 2016 to 2020.
By 2025, all its Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet models in China would offer hybrid or fully electric versions, it said.
Tesla has said that China is its second-largest market.
However, a high sticker price has limited sales by other foreign brands to a few hundred vehicles.
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