Automotive New China
SAIC Motor (SAIC) received an order for 1,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids last week from a Shanghai supplier of battery charging equipment that plans to start a car-rental business.
The company says it will fill the order with Roewe E50 small electric cars and Roewe 550 compact plug-in hybrid sedans. The buyer, STGCON New Energy Technology Co., supplies battery chargers and related components, as well as battery charging posts and stations for electrified vehicles.
In addition to supplying the vehicles, SAIC pledged to build EV charging stations with STGCON in major Chinese cities.
The deal is SAIC’s second major purchase order for electrified vehicles. Last August, eHi Car Services Co., a Shanghai car rental company, bought 1,000 units of the Roewe E50 and Roewe 550 plug-in hybrid.
Last year, state-owned SAIC sold 180,018 gasoline-powered cars under its Roewe and MG brands, down 22 percent from 2013. The Shanghai company has yet to disclose its sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids for last year.
SAIC has joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen Group. It also runs a microvan joint venture with GM in the southwest China city of Liuzhou.
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As much as I want to be pleased about this, it’s important to remember the relativity of the numbers. 1000 units in a country where over 1 BILLION people live is chicken feed sadly.
Considering it is state-owned, I am surprised they aren’t selling more.
From what I’ve seen, and read, I get the impression electric vehicles aren’t at all popular with Chinese consumers.
Not sure if its owing to bad experiences with them, older Chinese market electric vehicles weren’t exactly paragons of quality, or some form of cultural reluctance? Whatever the cause, they seem even more resistant to buying them than our own home market.