Beijing – 26. April 2012 – Fabian Schludi

Götz Lehmann, Prof. Olivier Boulay, Chief Designer of the new DENZA concept car, Fabian Schludi and Assistant to the COO Cui Yubo at the Auto Show in Beijing

BDNT (Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd.) introduced their brand new concept car DENZA on the Auto Show in Beijing this month. Olivier Boulay, Vice President of the Daimler Advanced Design Centre of China, who designed  the entirely electrical vehicle, welcomed us personally on his stand and explained in detail why the car is the beginning of a new era. One thing he was very eager to show us, was the sound of twittering birds after starting the engine – definitely setting the right mood  for your carbon emission free drive without any engine sound at all!

The serial production of this innovative car is planned to start next year already. On both national and on a city level the Chinese government will subsidize the purchase of an electric vehicle with almost 15.000 EUR. Experts project sales of up to 5.000.000 electric cars until 2020. Only a lack of availability of electric stations for refilling the batteries could obstruct the triumph of electric vehicles like DENZA.

We were fascinated by such an ambitious project: Combining the Chinese expertise of storable electric energy and German know-how on car engineering is going to lead the way for everyone who comes next.

Grace Chen, Shanghai

Known for its highly accurate and reliable statistical data yet delivered in unconventional and entertaining shapes, the economist recently came up with this infograph: a map of China’s provinces that per click change show their international equivalents of countries by GDP total or per person, population and exports.

Did you know that Germany’s population equals Sichuan Province? Or that Tibet’s GDP p.p. matches Congo? That Guangdong Province’s export sum alone is as much to the whole of South Korea’s? Click the index on top for switching beetween GDP, GDP p.p., Population and Export.

Chinese Equivalents Infographic by The Economist