an auto show in shanghai shed light on the industry's urge to jump onto the green-tech bandwagon, as china, which is already the world's no.1 new-energy vehicles (nev) market, pushes for clean-energy use in its auto sector.
during the fair, volkswagen's china jv saic volkswagen debuted a pure-electric suv "id.6 x," the second model produced by its new nev plant in china. the shanghai-based plant started mass production late last year and is expected to launch another electric model this year.
"saic volkswagen will launch a variety of new-generation pure-electric vehicles in the future, which will help the chinese market accelerate the realization of the carbon-neutral goal," said yang siyao, executive director of vw marketing & sales business, saic volkswagen automotive co., ltd.
sales of nev in china jumped by 2.8 times year on year to 515,000 units in the first quarter, data from the caam showed. in march alone, nev sales surged 2.4 times year on year to reach 226,000 units.
the better-than-expected nev sales came amid government efforts to promote eco-friendly cars and rising market enthusiasm for them. in november last year, china unveiled a development plan for its nev industry from 2021 to 2035 that aims to accelerate the country's transition into an automotive powerhouse.
the proportion of new nevs in the sales of new vehicles is expected to rise to 20 percent by 2025, and vehicles used in public transportation will be completely electrified by 2035, according to the plan.
