SAIC unveils 'big' plans for new-energy vehicles

The gasoline-and diesel-guzzling passenger vehicle industry may be taking tentative steps toward producing new-energy vehicles or NEVs with a focus on small models, but SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, China's largest automotive company, is thinking, and making, big in this context.

At the ongoing Auto China 2016 in Beijing, SAIC Maxus, a group firm of SAIC Motor, has put on display two big-size zero-emission electric vehicles: the seven-seater EG10 and the 15-seater EV80.

What's more, the auto major is already thinking of exports, particularly to the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, even though the governments there are not as zealous as China in encouraging environmentally friendly surface transport technologies, senior officials of the company said.