China Car Times

The Touran has proved to be a pretty popular little MPV with Chinese families, the 2.0l and the 1.8T have been good movers for VW, but perhaps the next hybrid model will be of more interest to Chinese families who want to save a dollar or two on ever more expensive fuel.

A limited production run will be manufactured for Olympic use, and mass production will be scheduled for 2010.

Media reports in todays Chinese motoring press indicate that the Chinese government could begin a hybrid revolution over the coming years, especially if they plan to drop sales tax on each hybrid car!

Chinese manufacturers are currently working on their own range of hybrid motors, Chery, BYD, Chang’an, etc have all produced hybrid prototypes, and are on the verge of putting them into production. The leaders of each company must been busy lobbying the central government for some time, for them to gain such a large amount of support. China officially dropped diesel as a potential rival to hybrid models a while back. Dropping sales tax on hybrid vehicles will only serve to make them more popular with the every day driver.

In other hybrid related news, the central government has approved 7 hybrid cars for production in China this year, the cars are:

1. Chery A5 Hybrid
2. Buick Lacrosse Hybrid
3. FAW Bentung Hybrid

The other vehicles are coaches, and buses from Dongfeng, Chang’an Auto and Foton. .

Despite the wet start to the hybrid market in China, it seems the domestic makers are catching up fast with their technology, pricing, and designs. Will China Car Times own a hybrid in the near future? Possibly.

These days car shows are starting to attract more and more electric or hybrid vehicle concept cars, and Beijing car show was certainly no different. The price of oil is hitting all time highs, the RMB has gone up in value against the dollar to offset the cost of buying oil into China but the fact remains, sooner or later, electric cars are going to become mainstream, and it may just be the Chinese that crack the market.

Great Wall Kulla:

The GW Kulla is a 2 seater pure electric vehicle which should see a maximum running distance of 140km on a single charge. GW also showed off an electric Peri.

Guangzhou AHEV

Guangzhou Automotive Group the partners of Toyota and Honda in China, showed off their first electric car concept at the Beijing Show. One was a two door coupe, and the other was a four door version. The AHEV is Guangzhou Autos first step out into the world of car making, they are aiming for a 2010 launch of hte AHEV, which is a hybrid system rather than a pure electric car.

Great Wall Hover Hybrid

Due to the high price of oil, sales of the best selling Great Wall Hover could go down. Great Walls solution was to make a 2.4 Hybrid version which will see oil savings of 15% when being driven around the city - an excellent idea seeing as most Hover owners would never take their car off road anyway.

Haima H1/Fu Shi Da

We showed off the Haima H1 earlier this year, but Haima have tweaked the design a little, and added a fully electric drive train. We’re unsure as to what kind of batteries are in the H1/Fushida but we’re told the car needs 4-5 to fully charge so we’re guessing that the H1 actually uses lead acid batteries. The H1 also has regenerative breaking technology to create electricity on the go.

Geely FCE

The Geely FCE has 1.6 92bhp engine, and also a hybrid drivetrain which gives out 40bhp of power, making it perfect for shorter and longer trips.

Beijing 2008 has shown that Chinese manufacturers are getting serious about hybrids and pure electric vehicles, perhaps its a result of the government giving China a ‘Green Olympics’ which has awoken the Chinese populace up to the fact that their environment ain’t as great as it used to be.

Pictures from Gasgoo

It seems that at least some of the Chinese auto manufacturers are serious about entering the US markets, this year at the Detroit Auto Show Geely, Changfeng and BYD turned up to show off their wares.

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Continue reading ‘Detroit Auto Show: Chinese players back again’

According to a new policy that was passed down from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), diesel powered cars will no longer enjoy the preferential policies that were previously given. Instead, the NDRC will award hybrid manufacturers with preferential policies to aid in the development of electric powered engines.

PSA and Volkswagen were recently touting their diesel powered motors in China, but it seems that Toyota, and Honda, who have been recently lobbying the PRC government for preferential treatment of hybrid motors.

China seems cautious on the future of diesel, could recent fuel shortages be a reason, (why have most of the nations cars running off a fuel that is running scarce) or perhaps that Chinese diesel quality is as good as foreign countries?

Many Chinese auto manufacturers are currently developing hybrid technology, both Chang’an and Chery have working models, BYD and Haima are going down the 100% electric route and other makes are using foreign diesel engines in a bid to cut down on emissions.