Japanese Carmakers Prepare a Bevy of Electrified Vehicles for China

Japan’s major carmakers are rushing to introduce electrified vehicles in China, with at least one model due late this year.

The Nikkei notes that the scramble marks a big shift for the companies, whose focus until now has been on the longer-term appeal of fuel cell powertrains. Now they are being forced to prepare plug-in hybrids and battery-powered vehicles to satisfy impending quotas in China, which accounts for about 30% of global vehicle sales.

China has said it wants to put 5 million new-energy vehicles on the road by 2020.

The Chinese quotas dictate that so-called new-energy vehicles account for at least 20% of new-car sales in 2019 and 12% by 2020. Deliveries of such vehicles last year totaled about 770,000 units, or 3% of the country’s 28.9 million-unit market for passenger vehicles.

The Nikkei says Mazda Motor Corp. is the most recent to jump into electrification. The carmaker plans a 2019 debut for an all-electric vehicle—probably a compact crossover—it is co-developing with Chongqing Changan Automobile.

But the newspaper points out that Honda Motor Co. may be first among its rivals to debut a new electric in China. Later this year Honda plans to launch an electric version of its Vezel small SUV/crossover in the country.