General Motors’ China joint ventures will be able to create enough new energy vehicle (NEV) sales volume to represent NEV production quotas by 2019 and without the requirement to buy credits, GM China chief Matt Tsien stated on Monday.
China has set rigid production quotas for NEVs which automakers need to meet by 2019, a move that is causing a flurry of electric automobile deals and new launches of battery electric and plug-in hybrid models as automakers in China race to ensure they do not fail.
GM produces vehicles in the country through a joint venture with SAIC, the country’s biggest car manufacturer, as well as a three-way tie-up with SAIC and Guangxi Automobile Group, previously referred as Wuling Motors.
Tsien, GM’s China chief since 2014, stated both SAIC-GM Corp and the three-way tie-up “are working to a minimum of meet, if not surpass, those credit mandate requirements”.
Tsien informed reporters on Monday that both joint ventures will attempt to fulfill those requirements without having to buy NEV credits from other automakers with excess credits.
“We plan to be able to produce sufficient products for those joint ventures to be able to meet the NEV quotas on their own,” Tsien stated.
“I can’t give you any particular (NEV production and sales volume) numbers other than to state that through the complicated formula we will either meet or surpass.”
China officially revealed NEV requirements for automakers in late September. When the green vehicle quotas work in 2019, automakers will have to collect sufficient credits by producing and selling sufficient NEVs to hit a threshold equivalent to 10 percent of yearly sales. That level would increase to 12 percent for 2020.
