Nissan & Dongfeng Introducing Low-Price EV In China In Next Few Months
The Nissan Motors and Dongfeng Motor Group partnership will be introducing a new “low price” electric vehicle to the Chinese auto market sometime this summer, according to recent reports.
The new low-price electric vehicle (EV) will reportedly sell for around 30% less than the models for sale currently. What that means is that the new EV will be priced somewhere around RMB 200,000 (~$30,500).
With the country’s substantial EV incentives factored in, that means that interested buyers will likely be able to purchase the new model for between RMB 100,000 to RMB 150,000 (~$15,250 to $22,750).
Nissan will reportedly be producing the new electric car locally, and even procuring important parts (such as battery packs) within China, according to those involved. Which is of course exactly why China created its labyrinth process for foreign auto-manufacturer entry into the market in the first place….
To provide some background information to all of this, Nissan has previously revealed that it is intending to grow its share of the Chinese electric car market substantially over the coming years — from a market share of around 2% in 2015 to a market share of 5% to 10% in just the next couple of years. CEO Carlos Ghosn has also directly admitted that LEAF sales were much lower than they had hoped they’d be in China, and the main reason was high upfront cost.
With regard to Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company (DFL-PV), the partnership launched its first all-electric vehicle — the Venucia e30 EV — back in 2014.
Nissan’s interest in the market is easy enough to figure out — even with the country’s rather protectionist policies, the opportunity for growth (and profit) is huge. There were around 330,000 so-called “new energy vehicles” (EVs, PHEVs, etc) sold in China in 2015. The government is aiming to increase that figure to 5 million by the year 2020.
Image: Nissan LEAF in China via GuoZhongHua / Shutterstock.com
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