11.28.2007
Automotive News China reported today that General Motors will start manufacturing a hybrid car in China next year. GM intends for the vehicle to be available in China for the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.
Since all the people in China that want a hybrid can probably all comfortably fit within a single city block in Beijing (gasoline is cheap in China, subsidized by the government), one has to assume that GM is making sure they don’t get upstaged by the Toyota Prius, which just started production in China recently itself. Toyota sold 2000 units of the Prius in China last year.
China is a very important market for GM, and there is no way that they are going to let Toyota win any public relations battle there, or, for that matter, there is no way that they will not put their best foot forward in supporting the Chinese government’s desire to portray China as a good global citizen. A hybrid car produced in China does both of those things.
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Obviously just window-dressing from both Toyota and GM. But, I’m glad the hybrids will be available in China, no matter what the reason.