Earlier this year the Chinese government announced policies which included subsidies for Chinese built hybrids and electric vehicles, but these policies excluded foreign branded vehicles. This policy has led to Toyota canceling its plans to build the latest generation of Prius vehicles in China, and it is unclear if the current Prius will continue to be produced via the FAW-Toyota joint venture.
The Prius is also not available to take advantage of the 3000rmb energy saving subsidy that is made available to other cars, including joint venture built cars.
Honda introduced the Civic Hybrid into China as an imported model, but has also suffered from low sales figures. The Chinese market for hybrids and plugin hybrid vehicles remains low due to a lack of vehicles being made available to consumers and also considerably high prices for joint venture built hybrids such as the Prius.
