| 21-12-2007
Changan
Automobile Group will speed up development of hybrid cars in the coming several
years. The automaker is considering applying hybrid technology to all of its passenger
vehicles.
"We will invest another 300 million yuan ($41 million)
by 2012 to develop hybrid cars," says Changan's spokesperson Zhou Qin.
Zhou spoke after Changan rolled out a gasoline-electric hybrid model in Chongqing
on Dec. 13. The vehicle will not be commercially produced until July or August
next year.
Changan is among a group of domestic and oversea automakers
that will launch hybrids in China in the coming several years, including General
Motors, FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor and Chery Automobile.
The market for
hybrids in China is small. They cost more than the equivalent standard auto, and
the government offers no incentives to build or purchase fuel-saving hybrids.
Hybrids use a gasoline engine and one or more electric motors to power the wheels.
Toyota Motor is the only automaker producing hybrids in China. But the
company only sold about 300 hybrid Prius hatchbacks in China this year through
October, according to Automotive Resources Asia, a division of J.D. Power and
Associates.
But Kuang Jinwen, sales general manager of Changan's passenger
cars, says Changan forecasts an optimistic future for hybrids. "The trend
is market growth," he says.
Zhou and Kuang say Changan will ask
the Chinese government for favorable policies for hybrids, such as discounts on
the purchase tax and road maintenance fees.
Changan's first hybrid is
a small wagon refitted from its existing gasoline model, the Joice. It carries
a 1.5-liter gasoline engine and an electric-power system consisting of an integrated
starter generator and nickel-metal hydride batteries.
Zhou and Kuang
say the company developed the hybrid technologies by itself.
The vehicle
burns about 6.8 liters of fuel for every 100 kilometers in tests, about 20 percent
less than the gasoline version. Maximum speed is 160 kilometers per hour.
Zhou says the hybrid system will add less than 20,000 yuan ($2,714) in production
costs to the car. The gasoline version of the Joice sells at a starting price
of about 90,000 yuan ($12,211).
But Kuang says the company will not start
commercial production of the hybrid until July or August next year. It wants to
have 10 ready for the Beijing Olympics.
Zhou says Changan has several
dozen engineers working on hybrid projects. They spent six years on the first
model.
Changan mainly produces mini cars, but the company plans to develop
a full line of passenger cars in the coming several years and wants to build seven
sedan platforms by 2010.
Kuang says Changan will try to export the hybrids
in the coming several years, but plans are still being studied.
Kuang
adds the company is also developing other new sources of energy for vehicles,
such as hydrogen, biofuels, and electricity.
At present, Changan runs
two joint ventures in Chongqing, one w ith the Ford-Mazda alliance and the other
with Suzuki Motor Corp.
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