China is expected to release a revised policy on the automotive industry later this year as preparations have basically finished, a senior industry official said Wednesday.

The new policy will be composed of 12 chapters on issues including policy targets, industrial policies and development plans, legal management of auto products, and technological policies, said Jiang Lei, executive vice president of the China Association of the Automotive Industry, at the ongoing Seventh China International Fair for Investment and Trade, which opened in Xiamen on Monday.

The core of the new policy will be to work hard to turn China into a major world automaker by 2010, sticking to a 50-50 stake in foreign joint-venture auto factories and to the system of examination and approval for the automobile whole-set production sector, guiding automakers in improving their own development capacity, building up name brands and establishing their own sales networks, according to Jiang.

Requirements on the localization of automobile production will be measured by "products with the characteristics of complete sets," he said, without elaboration.

According to the official, the new policy will be of great importance to strengthening the legal construction in the automotive industry, promoting adjustments in product mix and industrial restructuring, boosting foreign cooperation and meeting the fast-growing market demand.

More than 4 million automobiles are expected to be produced and sold in China this year, an increase of 25 percent year-on-year, Jiang said.

Sedans will account for 1.7 million to 1.8 million of those cars, soaring by 50 percent over last year.

China produced 2.08 million automobiles in the first half of this year, an increase of 34.13 percent on an annual basis.

Of the total, 895,500 were sedans, a jump of 103.53 percent, said Jiang.

The automotive industry's half-year sales increased 31.99 percent to 2.03 million automobiles, with sales income up 41.56 percent to 432.6 billion yuan (US$52 billion). The sales of sedans jumped 82.44 percent to 842,800, he said.

According to Jiang, China imported 88,781 automobiles, including 53,441 sedans, in the first half of the year, up 50.45 percent and 78.08 percent year-on-year, respectively. Auto part imports soared 132.84 percent to US$3.21 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2003)