Impacts of New Chinese Fuel Economy Standards
New World Resources Institute Report
The WRI (World Resources Institute) report raises important issues and questions about the new fuel economy standards in China that take effect in 2005. These standards and require each vehicle to meet the minimum fuel economy standard for its weight class. As the Chinese auto market is an important expansion market for major global automakers, the new standards are likely to affect companies differently and could create competitive issues for some of them.
The Chinese government approved the program of fuel economy standards to address the increasing oil consumption and dependence on oil imports. China's oil consumption is expeced to increase 4 percent per year, placing China as the world's second largest oil consumer behind the United States.