China's first self-produced hybrid-power sedan, the Jiexun-HEV, rolled off the production line on Thursday at a Chang'an Automobile plant in Chongqing. It is expected to be put onto the market soon.

A Ministry of Science and Technology official said the new sedan was developed using China's self-owned intellectual property rights in terms of the engine, hybrid power system and the car as a whole. This marked the mastering of core technologies in hybrid-power system by a Chinese auto enterprise.

Xu Liuping, president of the Chang'an Automobile, said the Jiexun-HEV was a major component of the "electrified automobile program" in the state backed high-tech plan, known as the 863-Plan. With a development period of six years, the car had finally become a mass-produced model with internationally-advanced technologies.

He said the car adopted a fuel-battery hybrid technology and reduced fuel consumption by more than 20 percent compared with traditional cars. The emission also met the state's standard IV, the highest standard in China.

Xu said that ten Jiexun-HEVs would be donated to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to be held in August next year.

Currently in the Chinese market, hybrid cars were mostly imports that had not performed very well in the market due to high prices. Quite a number of Chinese auto plants have been developing hybrid cars but Chang'an was the first to make it possible for mass production.

The price of the new car would be sharply lower than the imported equivalent models, Xu said.

Chang'an Automobile is China's fourth largest auto enterprise. The China Association of Automobile Industry statistics revealed that in the first 11 months the company had sold 772,300 automobiles.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2007)