The 2014 China International Auto Exhibition of Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection marks a new step of developing energy-efficient vehicles in China. Photo: Shi Haohong/GT

Beijing held the 2014 China International Auto Exhibition of Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection on October 19-21, demonstrating China's commitment to reduce pollution and embrace energy-efficient cars.

This was the second year of the exhibition, and was conducted with the purpose of promoting energy conservation and new energy-efficient vehicles in the Chinese market.

The leading manufacturers in this field, including the First Automobile Works Group, Dongfeng Motor Group, Changan Automobile Group and Volvo Group, all had their representative products on display for the audience. State-of-the-art cars like Springo, an electric car by Shanghai General Motor, and C30, a plug-in hybrid car by Volvo, were the highlights of the show.

However, despite the global attention and financial investment that energy-efficient cars have received in recent years, they have failed to win over consumers as much as initially expected. This lack of popularity was reflected in the disappointing turnout at this year's exhibition, which unlike other car shows, where long entrance queues of car enthusiasts are the norm, this event was reported to be quiet and vacant.

In January of this year, the government launched a new policy to promote new energy-efficient cars, offering consumers government subsidies to buy electric cars.

The Beijing Business Today reported this October that 31,137 electric cars had been sold in China through this policy, between January and August this year, a sizable increase of 328 percent compared to that period in 2013.

Nevertheless, analysts say that the main consumer of electric cars are still the local governments, which have adapted the concept of electric-powered vehicles for public transport systems, such as bus services.

"The disadvantages [of the cars] contribute to the unpopularity of the new-energy car market among Chinese consumers," said Zhou Weidong, vice-president of the Machinery Sub-council of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and organizer of the exhibition.

"The insufficient electricity recharging stations, and the limited electric power storage in the cars are the major factors," he added.

However, Zhou also noticed some promising new additions to this year's exhibition. New concepts of energy-efficient cars are emerging in the market, such as the energy-conservation cars that require less fuel than ordinary vehicles.

These energy-conservation cars, developed mostly through innovation in technology and materials, would be an attempt to make energy-efficient cars more accessible to the public, said Zhou, and they might just be the answer.