Sales of low-polluting cars in China going down

Filed under: Etc.

The sales of lower emission cars are down in China. During the first half of this year, sales of these cars are down 11.67 percent, according to an article published by the Chinese official news agency, Xinhua. The data is important because car sales in China were up a 30 percent in 2006.

Experts blame this on several factors such as the lack of social status smaller cars have or the lower awareness of some premium ecological models. "If a low-emission car made in China could match the New Beetle or the Mini's performance, it would be warmly welcome", said Lang Xuehong, chief of the automotive department at Sinotrust. Lang affirms that local manufacturers get a very small profit from less-polluting cars (around 100 USD) which reflects in the lower quality of these models.

According to a recent study by Sinotrust Marketing Research & Consulting, less than 20 percent of 15,000 interviewed potential car buyers would consider a low-emission vehicle as their first purchase option. So far, not a single low-emission vehicle was in the top-20 sales ranking, whereas last year, a few models (from QQ and Xiali) were in the list.

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[Source: Xinhua via Cadenaser.com]

 

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