Auto Zone China: How a Kingdom of Bicycles Became #2 in Global Gas Guzzling (Part I)
NEWS FLASH: “Government pledges support to struggling auto industry in lead up to economic stimulus measures.” Nope, this is not old news about bailing out General Motors & Co. Nor is it coming from Washington.
The country involved is not one which, after years of building the world’s most vast network of roads; issuing policies that invited petroleum dependence instead of effective public transportation; and allowing 1950s-inspired city planners to go nuts buildings suburban communities so sprawled and removed from the cities that getting to the store requires not just owning and driving a car, but driving it 20 minutes from your home. We don’t mean the U.S. Nope, we’re talking about China. [insert “wtf” reaction here]
China was once anecdotely known as the “kingdom of bicycles” due to their overwhelming prevalence. Not only were bicycles a definitive status symbol, but city streets so accommodated bicycle traffic that human-, not gas-powered, wheels were the most efficient means of transport. Now, Chinese have decided that the American dream of a car in every garage is one too beguiling a symbol of modernity to resist, despite the physical, not to mention environmental, impracticalities involved.
Whether China will avoid “mak[ing] the same mistakes we did,” as Secretary of State Clinton exhorted during her recent trip to Beijing, will depend, then, on how the stimulus is used. China’s electric car manufacturers in-the-making are lobbying China’s decision makers hard for extra subsidies. Is the Chinese government ready to pledge bold support for more environmentally-friendly vehicles?
The planet’s second largest car market and manufacturer: the story of Chinese oil & autosRead more at susty.com
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