Chinese automakers, under pressure from the government to produce more fuel-efficient cars, unveiled an unexpectedly broad array of prototypes for fuel-cell cars, gasoline-electric hybrid cars and electric-battery cars at the Shanghai auto show on Friday.
The variety and sophistication of the cars showed a striking improvement not just since the last Shanghai auto show two years ago, when Chinese automakers demonstrated scant technological innovation, but even in the months since the Beijing auto show last November.
Universities and technical institutes across China have started advanced vehicle propulsion research programs, combining strong government financial backing with China's rapidly growing ranks of skilled engineers.
PHOTO: AP
China, worried about severe air pollution and rising dependence on imported oil, has already imposed more stringent fuel economy standards than the US -- although not quite as stringent as the semi-voluntary standards that automakers have accepted in the EU.
China plans to tighten its standards considerably more next year. It has raised its consumption tax to as much as 20 percent on gas guzzlers, while cutting it to 1 percent for cars with small fuel-sipping engines. And China is studying whether to introduce tax incentives for buyers of hybrids.
Multinational automakers like General Motors and Volkswagen have begun cooperating closely with Chinese joint venture partners on the development of hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles. Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development, said the company was in talks with a Chinese joint venture partner on sharing hydrogen fuel-cell technology as well.
Xu Liuping (徐留平), the chief executive of Changan Automobile (長安汽車) in Chongqing, said the Chinese auto industry was working with the government to improve the country's energy security through more energy-efficient designs.
"The speed will be accelerated because available energy supplies are dwindling and because of the environmental protection aspect," Xu said in an interview at the Shanghai auto show.
Changan showed a hybrid gasoline-electric minivan here. Xu said that he had lined up local governments that promised to use it, making it possible for Changan to start manufacturing the vehicle next year.
Rick Wagoner, GM's chairman and chief executive, and Nick Reilly, the president of GM's Asian and Pacific regional operations, met on Thursday with senior Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the company's energy efficiency plans, Reilly said. The Chinese government has not chosen among options like electric battery cars, fuel cells, hybrids and ethanol combustion, but wants the industry to move quickly to find the best approach and adopt it.
"It's absolutely at the top of the agenda" of the Chinese leadership, Reilly said.
Western environmentalists have long speculated whether China may actually leapfrog the West in personal transportation by embracing new automotive technologies before the country's oil and auto industries can become too wedded to internal combustion engines.
The odds of such a leapfrogging have eroded because nobody has yet surmounted the technological obstacles that prevent a broad switch from gasoline technology to hydrogen fuel cells, said An Feng, the executive director of the Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation in Beijing.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (
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