China will enforce tougher emissions standards for vehicles starting July 1, putting pressure on legacy carmakers and dealers to clear thousands of cars that will soon become non-compliant.
(Bloomberg) — China will enforce tougher emissions standards for vehicles starting July 1, putting pressure on legacy carmakers and dealers to clear thousands of cars that will soon become non-compliant.
After July 1, vehicles that don’t meet Phase 6b standards will be banned from being produced, imported or sold.
Cars that qualified as “monitor only” under the Phase 6b Real Driving Emissions test have a grace period until Dec. 31 to be sold, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Industry groups such as the Auto Dealers Chamber of Commerce had called for a delay to bringing in the tougher standards until January 2024 to allow distributors and carmakers to clear their non-compliant stock.
Read more: China Car Dealers Struggle Amid Price War, Emissions Standards
There are tens of thousands of gasoline cars that were made according to the previous emissions standards and, while not a huge volume, manufacturers and dealers now have less than two months to sell vehicles that don’t have a lot of appeal to consumers.
There could be more discounts on these models to get rid of them, further disrupting the market, according to Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association.
There’s also still hundreds of thousands of cars that are classified as “monitor only” under the Phase 6b Real Driving Emissions test.
The grace period should give enough time for distributors to get rid of this stock, Cui said in a briefing on Tuesday.
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