General Motors chief executive Mary Barra remains wary of China’s plan to ban petrol and diesel vehicles.
During a recent speech in Washington after being named on Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women list, Barra said officials in China need to ensure there is enough demand for electric cars before banning traditional combustion engines, The Detroit News reports.
“Clearly we believe that the Chinese market will have the highest electric vehicles most quickly because of the regulatory environment.
I think the point I was trying to make, and it kind of got spun into something a little different, is at the end of the day you still have to make customers happy and you have to fill their needs.
We’ve encouraged the Chinese government to work with us and work with the industry to make sure we’re creating the excitement and demand for electric vehicles as opposed to it just being mandated,” Barra said.
Although Chinese officials have yet to enact a petrol and diesel ban, any legislation would follow in the footsteps of similar proposals made in select cities as well as countries like the UK, France, Norway and the Netherlands.
Barra’s statements come just a few days after GM announced it will launch 20 new electric vehicles by 2023.
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