This $6,000 EV Should Be Winning the Energy Shock
A big opportunity for a little car.
Photo: Yu Fangping/VCG/Getty Images
China’s auto exporters had a banner March. Overseas sales of electric vehicles and hybrids hit a record high after rising gasoline prices steered buyers toward clean-energy models. But one company that’s ideally placed to take advantage of the oil shock is losing out to bigger competitors — a misstep that deserves immediate attention.
A little-known automaker based in the southwest city of Liuzhou, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. — a joint venture set up in 2002 between SAIC Motor Corp., General Motors Co., and Guangxi Automobile Group Co. — has a successful range of low-cost mini EVs that should appeal to customers in South and Southeast Asia hard hit by soaring fuel costs.