China: Green Car Production Surges 280 Per Cent In Jan-July

BEIJING, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- China produced 25,946 units of new energy vehicles from January to July this year, a 280 per cent surge compared to the same period last year. In the first seven months of the year, output of pure electric passenger cars soared nearly 700 per cent year-on-year to 13,829 units, while plug-in hybrid passenger cars jumped about 10 times to 5,027 units, Xinhua News Agency quoted a statement released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Sunday. For commercial vehicles, it said output for pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids rose 46 per cent and 60 per cent respectively, in the same period. The Chinese government has introduced a series of measures to drive the new energy vehicles industry in its bid to save energy and combat pollution, including tax exemptions, subsidies for car purchases, while encouraging government agencies to purchase more new energy cars. The government also announced in July that new energy cars buyers would enjoy a 10-per cent car-purchasing tax cut from Sept 1, 2014 to end-2017. China set a target in 2012 to sell five million green cars by 2020. -- BERNAMA