ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses efforts by the Chinese state to enhance innovation in the automotive sector through industrial policies that push the adoption of new-energy vehicles and promote indigenous auto brands. It discusses the implementation of new rules surrounding new-energy vehicles in China and examines how these rules respond to the global technological revolution and China's domestic needs. Policies aimed at strengthening the production and innovation capacities of domestic automakers have traditionally favoured domestic state-owned capital over foreign capital by erecting market entry barriers. Yet as Chinese policymakers strive to construct a new-energy vehicle market, such support has been extended to non-state-owned domestic automakers and, more recently, multinational automakers. As the global automotive market becomes more competitive, and the Chinese automotive industry becomes more sophisticated, policies rolled out by state actors which aimed at promoting technological upgrading in the industry have been mediated by changing power relationships between various fractions of capital, including domestic state-owned, state-favoured private, joint venture, and multinational capital.
