New energy vehicles may come across a new opportunity for development as rumors afloat that China may unify subsidy policies for the vehicles nationwide. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has already called for an end to local subsidies, which vary by region. In an interview cited by the Information Times, a senior official from BYD stated that "there is already news about a unified subsidy list, but there hasn't been a specific announcement [made yet]," adding that such a policy would be beneficial for the development of the new energy vehicle market.

Xu Yanhua, deputy general secretary of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, commented on the issue, saying that "the trend of government policies that we can currently confirm is [a push] towards unifying the market and subsidy lists nationwide, [while] regional authorities in principle will not be able to make independent lists regarding enterprises and industries."

According to other reports, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) previously held a communication conference in Beijing, inviting officials responsible for 39 different projects to promote new energy vehicles to discuss how to encourage growth in the sector. One of the topics of the conference purportedly was how to clean up regional protectionist policies.

"Sorting out regional protectionist policies is the responsibility of the MIIT," Wang Binggang, director of the supervision and consultation group working with the national 863 program, said. "What the exact policies [that the MIIT will take] are [and] when they will be released is still unclear." If the MIIT wants to get rid of such protectionist policies, eliminating local authority to release lists of which new energy vehicles are eligible for subsidies will be of prime importance. Some analysts believe that the MIIT will release relevant policies within six months at the most.

Currently only Beijing and Shanghai have publically released subsidy lists. Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi'an and other cities are currently still deciding upon such lists. It is unclear if a unified policy would follow the standards set by Beijing or those set by Shanghai. "This is definitely great for [new energy vehicle] enterprises," remarked the above BYD official, adding that if subsidy standards were unified, companies would not have to individually negotiate with authorities of different regions. According to reports, the BYD Qin plug-in electric hybrid has already been included in both the Beijing and Shanghai lists of new energy vehicles eligible for subsidies, so the chances that it also makes a unified list are fairly high.

Source:Gasgoo