PERSPECTIVES ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE ...

Automotive Industry in China
b) New Technology cars
There are two Chinese companies pushing strong for the development of hybrid cars
that could be exported worldwide: BYD and Chery.
BYD launched the F3DM, a hybrid car, on December 15, 2008. In fact it is a
“combination of EV (electric vehicle mode) and HEV (hybrid electric vehicle mode)”
or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that can be recharged on an ordinary
electricity outlet. The particularity or competitive advantage of this car is that it does
not depend on a professional charging station. The founder and chairman of BYD
said at the launch ceremony in Shenzhen that the company plans to sell the DM cars
(F3DM, F6DM) in North America and Europe in 2 – 3 years.
Figure 34. e6 BYD electric car.
Wang Gang, China’s Minister of Science and Technology said in a weekend
conference in Tianjin that “the country plans to expand investment in developing fuel
efficient, hybrid and electric vehicles in the short-and mid-term and fuel cell vehicles
in the long-term.” He also added that “speeding up the commercialization process of
fuel efficient and new energy vehicles will be a primary task for China’s auto
industry” 25 .
1.3 Perspectives of consolidation in the industry
In this chapter, first we will summarize the government plans to revitalize the
automotive industry in China to overcome the current recession and to build big local
companies able to compete in the global market. Secondly, we will review which are
the expected mergers and acquisitions among the Chinese automobile manufacturers.
a) Government plans to enhance the industry
At the end of 2008, Chinese government announced a plan for “revitalizing and
adjusting China’s automotive industry” because it is expected to be one of the pillars
in the Chinese economy:
In April 2009, the government was expected to announce new policies to
stimulate the automobile financing.
25 China Automotive Review December 2008.
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