STORY: British market open to Chinese EV brands, says motor industry leader
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 23, 2024
DATELINE: Feb. 25, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:55
LOCATION: London
CATEGORY: POLITICS/ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of vehicles in London
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MIKE HAWES, Chief executive, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
3. various of electric vehicles
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MIKE HAWES, Chief executive, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders

STORYLINE:

A British motor industry leader has told Xinhua that an increasing number of Chinese automobile brands, especially electric vehicles (EV) brands, are entering the United Kingdom (UK) and British consumers are open to that.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MIKE HAWES, Chief executive, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
"The UK has always been an open market. We've seen over the years, European brands come, Japanese brands come, and Korean brands come. We can see now that Chinese brands are arriving in the UK and the British consumers are open to that.
As long as the trade is free and fair, that is good for the consumers and good for the industry, because it stimulates competition, which in turn stimulates innovation."

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that exports of China's new energy vehicles (NEVs), including both pure electric and hybrid vehicles, soared by 77.6 percent to more than 1.2 million units in 2023.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MIKE HAWES, Chief executive, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
"China is now both the biggest market, the biggest manufacturer of cars and the biggest exporter of cars. So it's sort of got the trifecta there. So it has been moving rapidly towards electric vehicle production and sales, and obviously therefore has economies of scale which will help it compete internationally. I think when you look at the global automotive industry, you look at the changes that taking place. The global industry has to respond to those challenges and to what consumers want. That means investment. That's very expensive. So collaboration is a way of sharing those costs, but also identifying what parts of the world have the solutions, have the innovation. We've got a lot going on in the UK. We have a very close relationship between industry and academia, and so many of the Chinese brands are already here with R&D centers. So (SMMT wants to) enable that collaboration, because no one has all the answers to all these challenges."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from London.
(XHTV)