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Back From China, Tesla has long way to go in China Still...

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My only trip to China so far was back in 08, a month after the Olympics. Hybrids that I could recognize (e.g. Priuses) in Beijing and Shanghai were non-existent.

If the sales figures at Nearly 20,000 Plug-In Electric Cars Sold In China In April are accurate, the PHEV and EV market in terms of top (sales) players is NOTHING like the US. The Venucia Morning Wind I believe is the rebadged Nissan Leaf.

For comparison, US PHEV and BEV sales are found by scrolling further down at April 2016 Dashboard - HybridCars.com.

China's now recognized as the largest car market in the world, having passed the US.

China April Auto Sales Rise 6.4% as Dealers Dangle Discounts says " Retail sales of cars, SUVs and multipurpose vehicles climbed 6.4 percent to 1.72 million units last month, according to the China Passenger Car Association." For that month in the US, per the bottom of April 2016 YTD U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings - Top 281 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - Every Vehicle Ranked - GOOD CAR BAD CAR, US total sales were ~1.51 million vehicles.
 
One thing about China is they are moving heavily to electric scooters too - to replace gasser scooters for city-commuters. This is possibly a help for smog and of course noise during rush-hour. Will never be as quiet as the old bicycle commuter days, though. Or as healthy.
 
As an Asian who has lived half of my life in Asia and half in America, what is really happening is that Asian people want to use the least amount of money to buy things that appear to be the most luxury or project the most wealth or power. It is almost a competition in the society and among friends on who is (or at least appear to be) the most successful in their life/career. Money and image is everything. These kind of thinking and values appear in other culture and western society in certain extent, but no where near the severity in Asian culture.

Sounds a lot like America in the 1980's.
 
This is actually an intersesting discussion. I live in Shanghai and just ordered a Model X 90D, which costs more than most German made SUVs. I have a group of friends who are interested in pure EVs, so it really depends on the group of people you are talking to. However, I agree to that 90% of Chinese have not been sold on the idea of driving an EV, mostly due to concern of range, services and residual value. This is not only true in China, but pretty much globally.