Domestic players can certainly take pride in their rising status in China's car market. But their recent success is still far from secure.

Their failure to obtain the "green car" certificates means not only loss of a significant section of the domestic market. Though private buyers have bought more than half of the country's cars, government procurement still accounts for a considerable proportion of domestic car consumption that no automaker can afford to ignore.

More important, it exposed their lack of preparation for the coming age of "green cars." Whether domestic carmakers can produce vehicles with superior performance in terms of saving energy and reducing harmful exhaust emissions will largely determine their future competitiveness with international auto giants.

At present, local carmakers can aggressively grab market share by cutting costs to woo domestic buyers. Nevertheless, the same strategy can hardly work when buyers become more demanding of quality and the country stricter on environmental standards for cars in coming years.

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