The Heated Auto Market Needs to Cool Down
Xu Guozhen Vice President of Ford（China）

In 2010, China's automobile output will exceed 10 million; in 2020, the number will very likely surpass that of North America and become the biggest in the world. China's energy consumption, especially the consumption by automobiles can easily be estimated. At present, oil used by automobiles in China accounts for nearly 30% of the total oil imports.

Gas emissions from automobiles are a major contributor to global climate change problem. The question of how car makers can reduce the use of energy and emissions is today a very important topic.

Besides emissions from automobiles themselves, scrap vehicles are also a big problem. The amount of automobiles needing to be recycled is not too severe at the present time. There are some automobile "graveyards" in the US with tens of thousands of automobiles piled on top of one another. If they cannot be recycled, the tires can also become a big problem.

The progress in automobile exhaust fumes emissions is globally unprecedented. At the end of the 1990s, China introduced the "National No.1" standard based on that of the EU. On 1st July, Beijing is going to introduce "EU No.4". We have leaped over nearly 30 years of progress achieved by the EU. The measures taken by the Chinese government are very tough, which is actually good for China's own environment as well as for that of the whole world.

What do consumers think of the issues of energy-consumption, waste gas and pollution emission? As early as two years ago, the Japanese manufacturers promoted the hybrid car in China's market. However, sales for these cars have only reached several hundred. Why? It is because consumers in China and in the world at large do not want to spend more money when buying cars in order to save energy or reduce emissions. The ownership of automobiles per capita is only 10% of that in the US. In the future, there may be a lot more energy consumed and much more emissions than those occurring up until now.

Because of the market needs, the continuous growth in the numbers of automobiles in China is inevitable. We need to take competent action to find better solutions to the energy and pollution problems related to automobile use. The state needs to issue policies and regulations for future manufacturing and usage. Once the government publishes the basic regulations which the automobile industry should follow, I believe no matter whether they be domestic or foreign enterprises, the manufacturers will comply.