How China's anti pollution policy is spurring another horse-to-cars moment

China’s policies to cut pollution is driving a rapid move toward electric vehicles in the world’s biggest market and causing an upheaval in the global auto industry, Aston Martin Holdings  Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer said.

“This whole show is revolving around what they call new energy vehicles, but Chinese policy is very much driving the move towards electric cars and certainly Aston has to go with that flow,” Palmer told Bloomberg Television in an interview at the Beijing auto show on Wednesday. “We’re probably in the biggest change in the automotive industry since we moved from horse to car.”

President Xi Jinping’s administration is implementing production quotas for new-energy vehicles, targeting a seven-fold increase in NEV sales and considering a ban on gas guzzlers as China tries to reduce emission in smog-choked cities and cut its reliance on imported oil. Conventional manufacturing giants from Volkswagen to General Motors are scrambling to gain a lead in the race for the future, competing with a slew of small startups.

China also plans to ease a 50 percent limit on investment by foreign automaker in what has become the world’s biggest car market, paving the way for more partnerships and deals, even as domestic makers eye the European and US markets. Aston Martin is “talking to everybody” to understand new technologies, as everyone from Internet companies to classical electrical suppliers innovate, Palmer said. “We are putting down a fairly significant number of people basically to pick up those trends and to tap into some of the technology here.”

The British brand plans to add some hybridization to every car by the mid-2020s, with as many as half of all car sales to be fully hybrid by that time, Palmer said.