GM to build a hybrid car in China
November 29, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, China faces one big problem – pollution. The air quality in the capital has reached such drastic levels that some athletes feel they won’t be able to get the necessary oxygen to perform.
In August this year an air quality survey in Beijing found 200mg of particulate matter in every cubic metre of air, which is four times worse than the level considered safe in Europe and Australia.
China feels that addressing climate change and pollution will hinder its industrial and social growth which includes the enormous desire for China’s middle class to own a car.
One small way to address the issue is via hybrid cars. Toyota was the first with the Prius but so far sales have been well below expectations with only 2000 of the cars sold last year.
Now it’s General Motors’ turn. Martin Murray, manager of Asia-Pacific hybrid engineering for GM Asia Pacific today announced plans to produce a hybrid car in China beginning in 2008. The aim is to have the car ready for the Beijing Olympics in August.
However it seems GM’s plans are primarily for PR purposes with Harry Zhao, China powertrain analyst for CSM Worldwide stating that despite the Prius’s small sales, GM doesn’t “want to be lagging behind Toyota. They want to prove to the Chinese customers and government that they have hybrid technology“.
Industry forecasts show that only 14,000 hybrid vehicles will be built annually in China by 2013. The slow uptake of hybrid cars is mainly due to the additional costs. According to Mr Murray the additional cost of a hybrid setup, is about $US2000, which is an enormous cost compared to a middle class income n China.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp; Chery Automobile, Ford partner Chongqing Changan Automobile ; Volkswagen and Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group are all planning Chinese built hybrid cars in the near future.
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Well I can see were all interested in this post…..At the moment our factories cant take the money out of their bank accounts……..government wont allow them too. We are assuming the Government is using the money in the accounts to prop up the Olympics! Two of our factories are currently experiencing this problem and different provinces in China!
I think the prius hasnt sold well in china is because of its cost. If i’m not mistaken the prius is made is japan? I’m not sure if China has taxes and import tariffs on the imports of toyota or anything made in japan but i’m sure they do. So the poor Prius will cost way too much for the middle class. GM is going to be at an advantage if they built a car for the chinese market in a Special Economic Zone where they can get exemptions from taxes and other costs and limitations, which can allow them to export. Not mention the low labour costs and other things will result in a significantly cheaper hybrid compared to the Prius. This is GM trying to overtake toyota and they are going the right way about it.
but hang on isnt the prius meant to be worse to the environment to produce?
a lot of the problem appears to be from industry. but oh yeah lets just blame the autoindustry and tell every one if they buy ugly gutless hybrids the world will be safe.
the air is horrible in asian cities. when you step into it you immediately feel 30kgs heavier and have to breathe through your sleeve
Instead of this obsessive green car mentality and god knows what – lets look at making the overall population come down in numbers as that is the killer bigtime! Andrew M (and lets not swear at him?) is dead right about the stupidity of the Hybrid cars. It is absolute disaster in air quality in some Asian countries and with every passing day all of us are oblivious to the root of the problem (population control) as 99.9% are not smart enough to see it.
You could say the pollution created by the western conumption lifestyles are being shifted to China & elsewhere.Almost everything we wear & use is made there but we all end up in the same soup.Ideal world population probably 500,000,1Billion tops.Who is game enough to make the decision?
A hard one.
True the air is disgusting in China………..they only care about the dollar though…………no future outlook……for most of them anyway.Most in China are uneducated…….what luck do we have in convincing them otherwise unless we pay them to clean the air!!!!!!!NONE! The dollar is what matters to them……….