China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the government paid 1.81 billion Chinese yuan ($273.6 million) in subsidies in support of green vehicle use from June to November last year, China Daily reported.
The program granted a one-time 3,000-yuan ($451) subsidy for every purchase of gasoline- or diesel-fuelled passenger vehicles with fuel consumption 20 percent lower than the existing standard.
Seventy-one green vehicle models qualified for the fuel subsidy. These included 16 Chinese manufacturers like BYD Automobile Limited and Chongqing Changan Automobile Company, and joint ventures involving Hyundai Motor Corporation and Ford Motor Company.
The ministry said that since the start of the subsidy program for buying energy-saving vehicles, 604,100 consumers of vehicles have benefited.
With the help of the program, the government expects to make possible over 400 billion yuan in vehicle sales by 2012 while helping reduce 3.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 750 million liters of fuel.
Vehicle exhaust accounts for 70 percent of China’s greenhouse gas and the Chinese government has been working to encourage the adoption of green vehicles to bring down its auto exhaust levels.
Currently, the central government of China is also subsidizing the promotion of clean-energy vehicles for public transportation in 13 cities. These include Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Haikou, Zengzhou, Suzhou, Xiamen and Guangzhou. They are promoting hybrid, electric and energy-efficient vehicles for public use.
The Ministry of Finance is providing subsidies to the provincial and municipal government finance bureaus for this program.
China’s Ministry of Commerce last December 31 also ended its own auto replacement subsidy which was aimed at reducing high emissions from old vehicles.
The auto replacement subsidy granted subsidies ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 yuan for those who would trade-in their small- and medium-sized trucks, and some types of mid-sized passenger cars.
