General Motors insists individual purchases will still dominate for some time to come despite the advent of new ways of acquiring the use of automobiles.

Addressing this week's Global Automotive Forum  (GAF) in the central Chinese city of Chongqing, General Motors VP strategy and global portfolio planning, Michael Abelson, highlighted the myriad new ways of future car use, in addition to conventional purchasing.

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"We have operated with more or less the same business model for more or less 100 years," said Ableson. "We see that changing and the driver of change is going to be efficiency.

"It is not just miles per gallon or litres per kilometre or CO2 emissions but also economic efficiency. How can we use these transportation assets in a more efficient way? We see a confluence of electrified propulsion, connectivity, [car] sharing and autonomous.

"Change will start soon, but personally owned vehicles will be the major part of the industry for many years to come. This change, once it starts, will have a very great effect in congested urban environments.

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"Ride sharing is a way to make efficient use of transportation assets, [but] these changes will not happen all at once."

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Part of China's strong growth is forecast to come from new electric vehicles (NEVS), with GAC Group executive deputy general manager, Feng Xingya, noting production had tripled last year to 330,000 cars.

"By 2020, according to the target of Made in China, plug-in vehicles and purely electric vehicles, will reach 1m units," said Xingya.

"Chinese car makers will invest more in their own brand [s], [while] proprietary brands in SUV and MPV will increase greatly."