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July 22, 2014

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Regional green car barriers to go

CHINA appears determined to tear down the wall of regional protectionism by promoting new-energy cars nationwide, according to a directive issued by the State Council yesterday.

The guideline calls on all regions and cities to have a uniform common standard for new-energy vehicles and charging facilities without promoting their own green cars.

Local governments will not be allowed to put additional demands on producers to impede new-energy autos from entering the local markets.

Non-governmental funds will be encouraged to participate in the construction of charging facilities.

The State Council said manufacturing of key components like electric motor, battery and electronic control unit should not be a criteria for regional electric automakers to enter a new market.

Trade barriers created by cities and regions keen to protect their own green car industries have long been an obstacle for the auto industry in pursuing economy of scale, let alone becoming a game changer.

The situation started to turn around earlier this year when Shanghai added non-locally produced cars like BYD Qin and BAIC E150 to the list of green cars eligible for local subsidies.

The move follows another central government directive that pilot cities benefiting from green energy subsidy must include at least 30 percent non-locally made cars. But even under a policy of fair play, some have more to gain than others.

Su Bo, vice minister of industry and information technology, said the state subsidies set aside to support China’s fledgling new energy sector, which welcomes even companies with no carmaking background, are for domestic carmakers only.

Foreign carmakers like Tesla gain nothing.

In comparison, the nationwide vehicle purchase tax exemption policy for new-energy cars announced earlier this month covers both locally-produced and imported ones.

But hybrid cars like Toyota Prius are not entitled to the exemption because it does not come under China’s definition of new-energy cars in the first place.

Car buyers will enjoy tax cuts from September 1, this year, to December 31, 2017, the guideline said.

China produced 20,692 green cars and sold 20,477 in the first half of the year — up 18.01 percent and 16.07 percent, respectively, from 2013’s total production and sales.




 

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