Gasgoo.com (Shanghai Jan 7) - Brilliance BMW, Beijing Benz, Shanghai Volkswagen, Shanghai GM and other joint-venture automobile manufactures intended to accelerate domestic production and sales of plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEV) sales, while China’s domestic automakers BAIC, SAIC, GAC, Changan, JAC, the Great Wall had focus on both PHEVs and pure EVs.
Assigned a million-unit sales task of alternative energy vehicles by the government in “Made in China 2025” the national development plan, China’s domestic automakers strived to make more active moves in alternative energy vehicles, especially in plug-in hybrid and pure EV models, while joint-ventures in majority attached more focus on PHEVs and their domestic production, seeing more popularity and approval among Chinese consumers in PHEV than pure EVs.
Worries had been pointed out that joint-ventures’ influencing moves in alternative energy vehicles market would undermine the dominant position of domestic automakers. However, quoting Yan Jinghui, a marketing specialist on vehicles, joint-ventures focusing on PHEVs target different consumers from domestic competitors as they set higher selling prices for PHEVs, therefore they wouldn’t pose much pressure on domestic enterprises like most had worried.
