Beautiful machines become photo opportunities. Zou Zhongpin / China Daily

Foreign, domestic players reach fevered pitch in world's biggest auto market

SHANGHAI - Although growth in the world's top vehicle market has slowed sharply this year, foreign and domestic carmakers remain at full steam to attract increasingly sophisticated customers in China.

They are offering car buffs a motoring extravaganza of 1,100 models during the 14th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, which opens to the public on Thursday.

The record number of exhibits will include 75 global premieres of new models, including 19 from foreign carmakers and 56 from homegrown brands, according to organizers of the biennial show.

With the main theme of "Innovation for Tomorrow", the auto expo has a total exhibition area of 230,000 square meters, a 35 percent increase from the last event in Shanghai in 2009. Organizers said the one-week show is expected to attract 700,000 visitors.

The gala comes amid deceleration in China's vehicle market, which is feeling the impacts from a range of factors including the expiry of government purchase incentives, tighter monetary policies, high fuel prices, controls on new car plates in Beijing and production affected by Japan's devastating earthquake in March.

In the first quarter of this year, vehicle sales in China edged up 8.08 percent year-on-year to 4.98 million units, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The growth was down from a blistering 77 percent in the corresponding period of 2010.

Yale Zhang, managing director of industry consulting firm AutoForesight (Shanghai) Co Ltd, said the drivers for the market this year are very weak.

"There is a high possibility that the passenger car market growth rate will fall to the zero to 5 percent range by the end of 2011," Zhang said.

"But a market slowdown has been expected and may be good for industry players to take a better look at themselves, their products and strategies, so that they can prepare for long-term sustainable growth."

He said such challenges have brought foreign and domestic automakers to a fevered pitch at the Shanghai auto show as they fight for long-term share in the world's No 1 auto market.

Seven marques

German carmaker Volkswagen Group, the biggest carmaker in China, will show scores of models under its seven marques - Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, SEAT, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti - in an exhibit covering 8,500 square meters, a record for the Shanghai show.

Both SEAT and Bugatti are making their debuts.

Premium carmaker BMW AG has almost doubled its exhibit to 5,000 square meters compared to the 2009 Shanghai event.

US carmaker Ford Motor Co, a relative latecomer to the Chinese market, will display 17 models over a 1,700-square-meter area.

On the eve of the show, Ford announced that it will introduce a total of 15 new models in China by 2015 as part of its aggressive plans to introduce 50 new products and powertrains to the Asia-Pacific region in the next four years.

"Together with our partners, we are leveraging the strength of the One Ford plan and our global platforms to bring 15 new vehicles to China by 2015, reinforcing our commitment of offering our full portfolio to Chinese customers," said Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa.

Hinrichs, also chairman and CEO of Ford Motor China, said that the new lineup will significantly strengthen Ford's penetration in existing segments and drive new growth in others.

An all-new Focus will be the first of the new lineup on the Chinese market when it is launched next year.

Ford now has several joint venture plants in China with major partner Chang'an Motor Corp. It has a total production capacity of 427,000 passenger cars, 64,000 commercial vehicles and 350,000 engines.

Ford said that by 2015 it will more than double both the number of its dealerships in China and the size of its workforce.

The company's sales in the nation grew by 19 percent in the first quarter over a year ago to 140,566 units. Ford expects 70 percent of its growth in the next 10 years to come from the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions.

Japanese carmakers also have high-profile displays, although their production in China has been severely affected by the recent earthquake.

Toyota, together with its two joint ventures in China and premium brand Lexus, will exhibit more than 60 models over a combined area of 4,900 square meters.

Nissan, along with its Chinese joint venture and luxury brand Infiniti, will also display a slew of models in a 3,000-square-meter exhibit, including a production car making its world debut.

Homegrown brands

Flexing their increasingly strong muscle, homegrown brands have no intention of being overshadowed by foreign competitors.

Geely, which acquired Volvo last year, is to parade 36 new models and nine powertrains in a combined area of 3,000 square meters - but wanted even more.

"As a result of insufficient space, another 10 new products have lost the opportunity to meet customers," said Zhao Fuquan, vice-president of the company. "It's a pity."

Chery will display 26 new models across more than 2,600 square meters including three global premieres along with five powertrains.

Great Wall Motor will have 20 new models at a display covering more than 2,000 square meters. The company will also hold a global dealership conference during the show for 300 representatives from 60 countries.

With soaring fuel prices and worsening pollution in big cities, new-energy models - mainly purely electric-powered and petrol-electric hybrids - will be in the limelight this year, though conventional internal combustion engines will remain the mainstream of the auto industry in the coming decades.

BMW will present a 5 Series ActiveHybrid model in its global premiere at the Shanghai motor show. The model is expected to be produced at BMW's joint venture in China later this year.

Ford's 17 exhibits include the Focus electric, c-max Energi plug-in hybrid and Fusion hybrid. The Fusion will be among Ford's new-energy fleet that will begin pilot operation in China later this year.

Volkswagen will display a phalanx of new-energy models including an e-scooter, the Golf blue-e-motion, Lavida blue-e-motion and Touareg Hybrid. The group has announced it will begin commercial production of the Golf and Lavida blue-e-motion models in China from 2013 to 2014.

500,000 electrics

It expects that its combined electric vehicle sales from now until 2020 will reach 500,000 units. Earlier this year, it introduced an imported Touareg petrol-electric hybrid in China.

Chinese brands are also exhibiting a range of new-energy models including SAIC's Roewe 550 plug-in hybrid and Roewe 350 pure electric, the Benben pure electric from Chang'an Motor, the Chery Rely M1-EV, the BYD E6 pure electric, and Geely's Panda EK electric and GPEC-EC7 plug-in hybrid.

The Roewe 550 plug-in hybrid, with a comprehensive fuel consumption of just 2.7 liters per 100 km, will be commercially produced next year.

The BYD E6 has a mileage of more than 300 km after being fully charged.

Geely said the Panda EK and GPEC-EC7 are expected to put on sale at the beginning of 2013.

On April 7, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, hiked the domestic wholesale price of regular gasoline by 500 yuan ($76) per ton, or an extra 0.37 yuan a liter. Diesel prices were lifted by 400 yuan a ton or 0.34 yuan for each liter.

This is China's second fuel price rise this year and the fifth since the beginning of 2010.

According to a recent survey by market research firm Ipsos of 685 car owners and 315 potential buyers in 119 Chinese cities, 85 percent of respondents would consider buying petrol-electric hybrid cars. Some 66 percent said they would purchase a purely electric car.

Those who said no to hybrid or pure electric cars in the survey cited concerns about technological maturity and electric recharging facilities.

Ninety-two percent of those surveyed believe fuel prices will rise considerably over the next one to two years.

China's crude oil imports grew by 9.6 percent to 178.9 million tons last year from 2009, according to industry data.