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Car makers urge rethink on China's EV policy

Posted on 13 July, 2017

Car markers around the world have urged China to delay their planned quotas for electric and hybrid cars, saying it is impossible to meet current proposals and it would cause a huge disruption to their businesses, according to Reuters. The policy includes a goal for hybrid and electric cars to make up at least a fifth of Chinese vehicle sales by 2025, with escalating quotas beginning in 2018. Chinese government officials have pledged to increase the buying of new-energy vehicles to 2 million units by 2020. A report published last month, based on data from the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, forecasted that new car sales in China would reach 29.7 million by 2020 and account for 30 per cent of the global car market. A letter seen by Reuters and dated June 18 was addressed to China’s minister of industry and information technology, Miao Wei. "The proposed rules' ambitious enforcement date is not possible to meet, and if unchanged would lead to a widespread disruption of the product portfolio of most automakers operating in China,” the letter states. “At a minimum, the mandate needs to be delayed a year and include additional flexibilities.”  The letter is sighed by the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) and the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA). Last year, 870,000 electric vehicles were produced worldwide, with 43 per cent manufactured in China, 23 per cent in Germany and 17 per cent in the US. As well as a delay in implementing the quotas, and a reconsideration of the harsh policies for not meeting them (which include a ban on importing and producing combustion-powered vehicles in China), car makers have called for equal treatment of Chinese and foreign manufacturers. Currently, foreign car makers are secluded from government subsidies for batteries and new-energy vehicles (NEVs), which they claim “undermines the environmental goals of the regulation, puts imports at a competitive disadvantage, and risks opening China up to international trade disputes.” In response to China’s quotas, car makers are trying to ramp up local production of EVs and negotiate around high tariffs on imported vehicles.