The Japanese and Merican automakers have set different paths to make it in China’s Market. While Competing with local EV manufacturers like Mini EVs, GM and Toyota have big plans set ahead.
Toyota’s story
The world’s biggest car designing company Toyota is now enjoying making its own electric vehicles. Though the company is the potentate manufacturer of hybrid cars, it has been facing challenges to prosper its electric vehicles.
Furthermore, even the company’s boss men have already instigated to manufacture of mini electric vehicles. Yet, it hasn’t been a success for them. Then, on April 19th Toyota is going to exhibit its models from large SUVs to medium-sized SUVs. This includes its small vehicles at Shanghai Auto Show. The Auto show is a new universal platform for electrical vehicles (EV) called e-TNGA.
The car manufacturers of Toyota are under complete pressure to grapple with the other companies like Tesla, Volkswagen, Renault, and the other companies in China like Xpeng. Despite designing their previous best seller in the world Toyota Prius hybrid, the company is still twitching in making small, comfortable, and safe electronic vehicles, The debacle of their small electronic vehicle EQ proves the situation.
Toyota’s future plans
Toyota’s previous small electric vehicles which were sold in 2012 were discarded as the consumer’s complaint about their high cost, less durability, and long charging time. The price of their mini iQ was 3.6 million yen ($33,000) which is roughly the same as their mid-sized Camry.
Toyota is planning to set right the limitations that occurred previously. The sources from Toyota said that the company is facing challenges in creating batteries into tiny cars and keeping the design affordable by using electronic power strains to replace their gasoline parts. And they should deliver the vehicle under $20,000 to come up on the road with other competitors.
General Motors’s Shanghai manufacturing sector
Shanghai’s GM company has already produced their vehicles with a less price 28,000 yuan ($4,410) which is far less than Toyota’s EVs. The biggest no-frills commercial vans manufacturer company in China, SAIC General Motors Corporation Limited, commonly known as SAIC-GM started their EVs at 30,000 Yuvan and now they learned how to control the cost.
“Wailing basically has simply had to replace gasoline engines in those commercial vans with simple electric powertrains.”
As said Yale Zhang, head of consultancy Automotive Foresight. Zhang estimates the sales of their mini EV and the upgraded Macaron version will hit 5,00,000 this year.
The company is set to launch their four other small electric vehicles by early 2022 by having ten of their model cars to compete for the rival companies which are entering the market.
SAIC-GM took it as their national honor to make their cars run on the road internationally. Mini EVs are not allowed in the United States and Europe for their unsafe design. It has only one airbag which isn’t safe for multiple passengers when the vehicle rolls.
But, SGMW’s Zhou says,
“The product meets all the vehicle safety requirements of China. The Hong Guang Mini EV is basically a commuting tool, helping people go from point A to B in city traffic. It’s highly unlikely for them to drive this car at high speeds.”
Mini EVs have already become one of the top EV sellers in China and sold about 1,00,000 cars.