Aiways, a private Chinese firm, announced its plan to sell its all-electric sports utility vehicle in Europe in early next year. The vehicles will earn the credit as the first Chinese-brand electric cars sold in the continent and it will widen the path for China's dominance in the global electric vehicles market.
Aiways plans to start leasing its electric sport utility vehicle on April 22 in the European Union, Switzerland, and Norway. The company will compete with combustion engine car makers from Germany, France, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. The company is currently valued at $1.6 billion. The company will offer competitive U5 SUV price through dealerships and through offering the vehicle only via online leasing.
According to Alexander Klose, executive vice-president for overseas operations and former chief executive of Volvo Cars China, if you'd go ahead in a traditional way, you'd have to build up dealerships and be saddled with costs.
He added that you'd probably end up with the same costs as the Europeans. He also said that it would be too difficult to compete with the internal combustion engine if they have the same prices. Mr. Klose said that they are not yet certain on the charge monthly for its SUV under the leasing plan.
A new report by BloombergNEF projected that China will be the main battleground for electric-car makers for the next two decades because of the Chinese government's policies that tend towards greener vehicles. The report showed that the annual electric-car sales in the Asian country will reach 2 million units next year, after topping 1 million for the first time in 2018. The researcher also reported that other regions will start to catch up and its share will shrink to about 25% in 2040 while China now accounts for more than half of global sales.
Volkswagen AG and Tesla Inc. are among the companies that plan to start manufacturing electric vehicles in China. Nissan Motor Co. is also planning to purchase companies in the local electric vehicle industry in China.
The Chinese government's subsidies aided in many company's research efforts. China has surpassed the United States as the largest electric-car market in the world.
The country plans to decrease the oil consumption, clear up its air, and find ways to compete with global automobile leaders including Japan, Europe, and North America. According to BloombergEF, total electric vehicle production in 2019 is set to exceed the target of the government.
