Chinese electric tipped by 2011

The target price for the first of the Chinese plug-ins is around $25,000, a bottom line which would give the new imports a massive advantage over cars such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Smart, which are expected to have a bottom line beyond $50,000 in showrooms.

Several importers are targeting the Chinese electric powerhouse, BYD, but it's the Chery brand which is most likely to hit the $25,000 target with a plug-in city car.  "We want an electric car by 2011," says Neville Crichton, head of the local Chery importer, Ateco Automotive.

"We plan to have an electric car in 2011 and I'm very confident we will.  The Chinese will be very, very important in the electric car market."

Crichton accepts that electric cars will have limitations but he believes it could be a major selling point for start-up Chinese brands.  "If the price is cheap enough, you can do serious volume," he says.

"If you're going to do electric cars in any volume it's got to be below $45,000. If would have to be in the mid $20,000s to do any volume."  And he is also prepared to take a swipe at hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius and upcoming Honda CR-Z, which have yet to win mainstream acceptance in Australia.

"Hybrids are just a speed hump on the road to electric cars," Crichton says.  The first electric trial cars have already arrived in Australia, with the i-MiEV leading the way and already targeted at Federal and state governments, as well as green-focussed organisations and major city fleet operators.

Subaru has also had a plug-in city car in Australia, Mini is planning a local promotional tour and Smart is on-track for sales in late 2011 or early in 2010.  Every major Chinese maker has at least a couple of electric car concepts on display at Auto China 2010 with Geely, which comes to Australia later this year through Perth-based importer John Hughes, dominating the green-power action.

Chery also has plug-in concepts, and has a tie-up with the Better Place organisation working on new infrastructure for Australia, but it is the BYD brand which is the target for serious electric-car fans.  The BYD brand - its slogan is Build Your Dreams - is the fifth-largest local maker in China but also the world's second-largest maker of lithium-ion batteries.

No-one has the local agency yet for BYD and Crichton is reluctant to commit his Ateco organisation."We talk to everyone. We are not representing BYD," he says.  I can't comment - I'm not about to."