FAW VW, the Sino-German car joint venture, is planning to lead China's under-developed diesel engine car market by producing 10,500 units this year.

Among the vehicles produced by the joint venture between First Automotive Works Corp (FAW) and Volkswagen will be 2,500 units of the newly launched turbo direct injection (TDI) Bora and 8,000 units of the suction direct injection (SDI) Jetta, said Qin Huanming, the company's president.

The 1.9-litre TDI Bora was launched over the weekend in Xiamen, in East China's Fujian Province. FAW VW started to produce the SDI Jetta in 2002, making it the first carmaker in China to deliver diesel engine cars.

"The introduction of modern diesel engines is a practical way to save energy and alleviate emission pollution, and I believe diesel engine cars will have a rosy prospect in China in the future," Qin said.

Modern diesel engines are much more energy saving and environmentally friendly than petrol engines.

For example, the 1.9-litre TDI diesel engine's carbon dioxide emission is 30 percent lower than the same-sized petrol engine. In fact, the TDI Bora meets the European III emission standard.

However, diesel engines still have a bad reputation in China as many low-quality trucks spew black smoke and are very noisy.

At this point, diesel engine cars account for a tiny proportion of total car output in China.

Last year, China's total car output surged by 83 percent to 2.01 million units but only 4,600 FAW VW Jetta models were equipped with diesel engines.

In contrast, diesel engine cars account for 40 percent of the total car market in Europe and even 50 percent in Germany.

"We will continue to deliver more models equipped with modern diesel engines in coming years," Qin said.

The company will also introduce TDI diesel engines into its Golf notchback and Audi A6 luxury sedan at the end of the year.

However, other Sino-foreign joint ventures do not appear to be actively seeking the production of diesel engine cars.

"We should be very cautious in this business. I'm afraid that we will not start to produce diesel engine cars until 2006," said Liu Weidong, president of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, a joint venture between French PSA Peugeot Citroen and Dongfeng Motor Corp based in Central China's Hubei Province.

"We have no plans to produce diesel engine cars now and we hope FAW VW will do a good job in promoting the image of diesel engines in China," said Kadowaki Koji, president of Guangzhou Honda, a joint venture between Guangzhou Automobile Group and Japan's Honda Motor.

Many problems must be resolved before a sustainable diesel engine car market can be fully developed in China, say analysts.

One of the biggest obstacles is the poor quality of diesel oil produced in China.

(China Daily March 1, 2004)