Local promotion catalog may face cancellation of new energy vehicles will enter melee era

After a lapse of three years, the call for the cancellation of the promotion of local energy for new energy vehicles has resurfaced. Can this time come true? Or is it like three years ago?

On October 17th, the “Measures for the Concurrent Management of Average Fuel Consumption of Passenger Vehicles and New Energy Vehicles in Passenger Vehicle Enterprises” was held at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Order No. 44). , referred to below as the "Double-integration Measures," the promotion of the meeting, the participating automobile industry experts proposed that they are to the relevant departments to recommend the elimination of new energy vehicles to promote the local directory.

On October 23, with the approval of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the State Council Legislative Affairs Office five departments jointly issued the "Fair Competition Review System Implementation Regulations (Interim)" (hereinafter referred to as "fair competition". Implementing Regulations"). The rules stipulate that there is no basis for laws and regulations and no way to exclude or restrict potential operators from providing goods and services by setting up project libraries and directory bases. At the same time, there are no legal or regulatory basis for filing, listing or setting up branches. Set market access barriers.

Previous experts and business people appealed that the "Fair Competition Implementation Regulations" issued jointly by the five ministries and commissions will be backed up. It will be just a matter of time to cancel the local promotion catalog for new energy vehicles. However, the Economic Observer reporter interviewed business people and industry experts, but found that no one recently heard the central government has the intention to cancel the promotion of local directory of new energy vehicles, and even some experts directly said that this is not so easy, there are experts said that As new energy vehicle subsidies have been declining year by year, whether or not the local catalogue has been cancelled has little significance.

Did not hear about cancellation

"We haven't heard of the need to cancel (local directory) news. If there are policy trends in this area, we are certainly very concerned, but we haven't heard of it recently." An insider of BYD Automobile said that they also saw from media reports. This news, but I feel it is not very reliable. "One is based on the regulations promulgated by the five ministries and commissions. One is the appeal of the relevant experts. It feels very unreliable. If it is related to government officials, it is still possible."

According to this insider of BYD, the focus behind the local new energy vehicle promotion catalog is local subsidies. If the local catalog is cancelled, then local subsidies will not make up for it? How to supplement? “Even if you cancel the local promotion catalog, if some local governments want to protect local companies, there are still many unwritten rules, such as tenders, products, after-sales service networks, etc.”

Wang Binggang, an old industry expert who has long been concerned with and participated in the development of new energy vehicles in China, and the leader of the National New Energy Vehicle Technology Innovation Engineering Experts Group, also said that he has not heard any news in this regard. "If this matter (removal of the local catalogue) is to be promoted, it must be promoted by the central government, and it is estimated that a special red-headed document must be issued to be effective. However, this has not been heard recently."

In Wang Bing-gang's view, the Central Government has a dilemma in this matter. On the one hand, the Central Government hopes that all localities will actively promote new energy vehicles, compete fairly, and allow better products and technologies to obtain a larger market; but on the other hand, local governments come up with local finances to subsidize new energy vehicles, and in the promotion of local It is also reasonable for enterprises to take care of it. It is difficult to stop it completely. "How to mobilize local government's enthusiasm for the promotion of new energy vehicles, but also to ensure fair market, reduce local protectionism, the reality is not easy to balance."

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association, also stated that he has not heard any news about the cancellation of the new energy vehicle local promotion catalog. In his view, even if a central government issued a red tape to cancel the local promotion catalogue, local governments could still protect local companies through other hidden conditions and restrict the entry of foreign companies and products.

The person in charge of another new energy car company also told the Economic Observer reporter: “Even if we cancel the small local catalogue of new energy promotion, we still cannot solve the local protection. In fact, many cities do not publish local promotion catalogues, but It does not mean that its market is open, and there are some technical trade barriers in international trade that are used to tailor the performance indicators from the technology route to the products for local companies, and some of them are delaying the inspection and certification and setting up channels for obstacles invisibly. Too many. For example, if you lead a phone call, the order will be changed, or you will openly invite tenders. The conditions for tendering are tailor-made for local companies. There are too many things in the promotion of new energy."

On November 1, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "Recommended Vehicle Catalogue for Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles (10th Batch, 2017)" on the official website. It includes a total of 159 models of 85 companies, of which 81 are pure electric products. The company has 155 models, plug-in hybrid products, a total of 3 companies, 3 models, and fuel cell products, 1 enterprise and 1 model. Since 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released a total of 10 batches of recommended models, including a total of 2,948 models of 209 companies.

However, for the nearly 3,000 products of these 209 companies, the new energy catalogue entering the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has only passed the first level. Can it enter the promotion catalogue for new energy vehicles in various places and get real orders? The key to the final market.

At present, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Hainan have all introduced local new energy car promotion catalogs. Although there are no local directories in some places, they are different inside and outside the country. For example, the "Notice on Adjusting the Subsidy Policy for New Energy Vehicles" promulgated in Shanxi last year clearly stated that the subsidy for the promotion and application of provincial electric vehicles should be abolished from January 1, 2017. , For the province's production and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, "the list of recommended models for the promotion and application of new energy vehicles" and to achieve terminal sales of electric vehicles, according to 50% of state subsidies to be subsidized.

In fact, many localities have pursued Shanxi's local subsidies to subsidize enterprises in the province and do not subsidize foreign products, but they have not used government red tape as publicity in Shanxi.

How to solve local protection?

Since the introduction of new energy vehicles in China in 2008, local protection has followed suit. In 2014, the voice of breaking away from local protectionism reached its peak.

In May 2014, the senior officials of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the China Automobile Association had repeatedly stated through the media that they would gradually clean up the local catalogue of new energy vehicles, eliminate local protectionism in the promotion of new energy vehicles, and establish a unified product catalog in the national market. On July 21 of that year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Popularization and Application of New Energy Vehicles" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), requesting that the promotion of new energy vehicles be further accelerated. The "Opinions" once again clarified that local protection should be removed. All regions must implement national unified standards and industry standards for new energy vehicles and charging facilities, implement a national unified directory of new energy vehicles, and further strengthen supervision of the market for new energy vehicles. At the same time, a new round of subsidy policies stipulates that sales of new energy vehicles in the field must account for more than 30%.

However, over the past three years, local protection has not been eradicated and remains one of the most troublesome problems for new energy vehicle manufacturers. In recent years, high-level government officials such as State Council Deputy Prime Minister Ma Kai and Minister of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have repeatedly demanded the elimination of local protection during the investigation and inspection of new energy vehicles.

According to the person in charge of the above-mentioned new energy company, the clear establishment of local directories and filings like Beijing and Shanghai is still a good practice. “At the very least, there are rules to follow, and in some places there is no detail at all, or there are regulations that are not implemented. Some Requirements must be set up locally or establish a company, or explicitly require repeat testing, to its designated certification body testing, etc."

Wang Binggang believes that there are so many controversies surrounding the new energy vehicle promotion catalog, in the final analysis because of subsidies. “China’s subsidies for new energy vehicles are among the highest in the world, and it is precisely such high subsidies that play an important role in the promotion. However, everything has two sides, and policies are the same. Subsidy strength is insufficient, and it is difficult to provide incentive effects. If you have a strong intensity, it will inevitably have adverse effects, such as local protection, but it also includes a small number of people taking risks to defraud subsidy. This is the complexity of things."

In Wang Bing-gang's view, if the subsidies are cancelled, the foundation of local protection will be greatly weakened. According to government regulations, the government subsidy for new energy vehicles will be completely eliminated by 2020. “It will not be a few years anyway.”

Cui Dongshu also believes that local subsidies can be completely eliminated to fundamentally curb local protectionism. "If the government focuses on subsidies for new energy from the current subsidies to production enterprises and subsidizes the use of links, such as tolls, parking fees, recharging, and road priority, local governments will not have such strong local protectionism. tendency."

The above-mentioned person in charge of new energy vehicles believes that the key is to look at big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. If they can achieve the same treatment for local enterprises in other countries and do not set up hidden obstacles through technical routes or technical indicators, the atmosphere of local protectionism will be able to Get reversed.