Movie star Jackie Chan attends the global launch of the Buick Velite 5, a extended range electric hybrid ahead of the Shanghai Auto 2017 show in Shanghai, China, Tuesday, April 18, 2017. It said the Velite 5 will be the Chinese market's most energy-efficient hybrid to date and the first able to travel 100 kilometers (60 miles) on the equivalent of less than 1 liter of gasoline. The Velite 5 will be able to travel 116 kilometers (72 miles) on one charge, with an added gasoline engine extending that to 768 kilometers (480 miles), GM said. The vehicle will be made by GM's joint venture with a state-owned automaker, Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp.
GM said its Velite 5 hybrid will be sold not as a Chevrolet but by its Buick unit, which has modest sales elsewhere but is GM's main brand in China. debuted an SUV-inspired crossover, the K2 Cross, designed for the Chinese market. In most displays they were flanked by up to a dozen SUVs able to carry as many as seven passengers. They range from family-friendly SUVs to futuristic-looking, premium-priced electric muscle cars from Chinese startups such as NextEV and Qiantu. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)Īlmost every global and Chinese auto brand is displaying at least one electric concept vehicle, if not a market-ready model. At the auto show, the global industry's biggest marketing event of the year, almost every global and Chinese auto brand is showing at least one electric concept vehicle, if not a market-ready model. Visitors take photos of the Buick Velite 5, an extended range electric hybrid, during a global launch event ahead of the Shanghai Auto 2017 show in Shanghai, China, Tuesday, April 18, 2017.
Models on display at Auto Shanghai 2017, the global industry's biggest marketing event of the year, reflect the conflict between Beijing's ambitions to promote environmentally friendly propulsion and Chinese consumers' love of hulking, fuel-hungry SUVs. "It's clear that China wants to take a leading role globally in terms of the regulatory environment and electrification," said David Schoch, Ford's president for the Asia-Pacific. The government has the world's most aggressive goals for electric vehicles, which it sees as a way to clean up smog-choked cities and take an early lead in an emerging technology industry.įord Motor Co., Volkswagen AG and other global brands also have announced plans this year to launch electric or gasoline-electric hybrids in China, where the market is dominated by lower-cost Chinese brands led by BYD Auto, the world's biggest seller of electric models by units sold. GM's announcement Wednesday during the Shanghai auto show adds to a wave of global auto giants that are launching electric models in China, the biggest auto market.