China Issues Mid- and Long-Term Plan for the Automobile Industry

On April 25, 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, joined by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology, published the Automobile Industry Mid- and Long-term Development Plan ( Plan) on its website, to promote the Chinese automobile industry. The Plan envisions China becoming a top automobile country in the world over the next ten years. In particular, the Plan aims to have several top ten new-energy automobile companies of the world by 2020, have several top ten automobile sellers of the world by 2025, and have several top ten automobile parts companies of the world by 2025. The Plan designates the new-energy automobile, the smart internet of vehicle, and the energy-saving automobile as key areas to develop. As supporting measures, the Plan calls on industrial investment funds, automobile industry funds, and science and technology funds to support automobile projects, and calls on both policy and commercial banks to increase financial supports to the several key development areas and support Chinese automobile companies to explore foreign markets.