China approves five alternative-fuel vehicles

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued the first list of five alternative-fuel vehicles that have received regulatory approval for mass production in the country. The list is comprised of Nanjing Iveco’s pure-electric service vehicles, Anhui Jianghuai Auto’s pure-electric engineering vehicle, and BYD Auto’s F3DM sedan. A growing number of alternative-fuel vehicles are being developed for the Chinese market, and local industry representatives expect such vehicles to total around 10% of overall sales by 2020. (August 17, 2009)