Chongqing Changan To Stop Selling Non-Electric Cars From 2025

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Image: Changan Benni EV

The China-based auto manufacturer Chongqing Changan Automobile will stop selling internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles — that is to say, it will stop selling non-electric cars — from 2025 onwards, company execs have revealed.

Accompanying this, it was also announced that the company will be investing more than 100 billion yuan ($15.10 billion) by 2025 into its “new energy strategy” — that is, into the development of electric vehicles and associated tech.

This news makes Chongqing Changan Automobile one of the first auto manufacturers operating in the country to publicly commit to a total shift away from diesel- and petrol/gas-powered vehicle manufacture and sale.

The only other major China-based firm to commit to something similar is Zhejiang Geely — the China-based owner of Volvo — which has promised to stop designing new combustion engine–only vehicles by 2019.

However, Chinese giant BYD — the world’s leading producer of electric cars — indicates that it expects gas vehicle sales to end entirely in China by 2030.

Reuters provides more on the Chongqing Changan Automobile news: “This comes at a time when carmakers globally are grappling with Beijing’s plans to shift away from petrol-engine cars to newer, less polluting technologies — a trend that is creating one of the most seismic shifts the automotive industry has gone through.

“Home to the world’s largest auto market, China has already set goals for electric and plug-in hybrid cars to make up at least a fifth of its auto sales by 2025 in a bid to combat air pollution and close a competitive gap between its newer domestic automakers and their global rivals.

“China has begun studying when to ban the production and sale of cars using traditional fuels, the official Xinhua news agency said last month, citing comments by the vice industry minister, who predicted ‘turbulent times’ for automakers forced to adapt.”

Hence the recent announcement, and no doubt recent decision making, at Chongqing Changan Automobile. Expect to see more of the same from other firms in coming days.

As it stands, though, BAIC Motors has yet to establish any kind of timeline for its move away from ICE vehicles and a company exec was recently quoted by Reuters as saying the situation was “challenging.” For more on that challenge, see:

What Goes On In The Minds Of Auto Execs?

What’s Actually New In The Electric Car World?

Daimler Exec Says Electric Cars Only Half As Profitable As Conventional Cars … At First


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre