In preparation for its entry into China's electric vehicle market, Honda Motors conducted its first electric car verification test in Guangzhou China, which followed similar tests recently done in the United States and Japan.
Yao Yiming, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Honda, said that following the initiation of Honda's electric car verification tests, Guangzhou Honda is expected to produce electric cars in 2012.
On the same day, Volvo Cars signed a strategic new energy vehicle cooperation memorandum with Shanghai International Automobile City Group to jointly develop and operate new energy vehicles.
Earlier, Shanghai GM conducted a large test drive activity in Zhuhai to display its new line of energy-efficient new energy cars to pave the way for the upcoming launch of the Chevy Volt in China — a major piece of Shanghai GM's "Green Future" strategy.
Volkswagen released its electric car strategy in China's market as early as last year, and it has shown its confidence in taking the lead in developing new energy vehicles by putting the world's first electric demonstration car fleet into operation in Beijing in April 2011.
Why are multinational auto companies so eager to carry out new-energy automobile experiments in China? Experts believe that there are two reasons: First, the Chinese government is determined to develop the new-energy automobile industry, especially the electric automobile industry. Second, China's new-energy and electric automobile market will be a huge market with numerous business opportunities in the future.
"Currently, China has listed the new-energy automobile industry as one of the seven emerging strategic industries that China will prioritize. Therefore, it is quite clear how China regards this industry," said Ouyang Minggao, director of the State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety Energy under the Tsinghua University.
Ouyang said that because China's automobile industry is rapidly developing, pressure is mounting on China to reduce emissions, and China faces a worsening situation.
The need to cope with external pressure coupled with the importance of strategically developing its automobile industry spurs the Chinese government to develop the new-energy automobile industry as a priority.
Second, China's electric automobile market is so huge and has so many business opportunities that no multinational auto company has reason to ignore it.
To seize China's new-energy automobile market, multinational auto companies must carry out new-energy automobile experiments in China, said Huang Yonghe, a chief expert from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center.
According to the latest statistics by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China produced about 15 million and sold nearly 15.2 million automobiles in the first 10 months of 2011, up 2.7 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, compared to the figures for the same period in 2010.
Growth rates for both production and sales decreased, but it is still expected that the numbers for the full year of 2011 will both exceed 18 million, clenching China's status as the largest automobile market in the world for the third year running.
Ouyang said that because the fuel price is rising, the new-energy automobile products are also becoming more abundant and the infrastructure for the new-energy automobile is also improving. Without question, new-energy vehicles will be sold Chinese families on a large scale, and China will turn into the largest new-energy vehicle market in the future.