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Chery, official providers of hybrid cars for the Olympic Games
By Yoann Besnard on 21 February 2008 | 
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The Chinese A5 hybrid saloon has been elected as the official car of the Olympic Games due to occur next summer.
The Chinese government wants to show it cares about the environment and put pressure on the domestic carmakers to develop hybrid cars. Unfortunately, the same carmakers are not really interested in hybrid technologies and have only expressed their good will in press statement. Choosing the A5 hybrid is a clear message that the authorities send them: build hybrid cars if you want to take part in the future of China.
The Chery A5 is powered by a 1.3-litre petrol engine associated to a hybrid solution whose details remain unknown. 80 cars will be provided to the Olympic organization and the cars will be christened “Olympics Green Messengers”.
Last year the Chinese carmaker built 380,000 cars and has set the ambitious plan to build half of its production with a hybrid solution at a time when Toyota changed its strategy on hybrid models.