China wants its auto industry to be producing and selling two million new energy vehicles (NEVs) by 2020, according to a blueprint released on Tuesday.
The plan, jointly released by three government departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, says the country will aim to empower its automakers to become global leaders, particularly in NEVs and Internet intelligent cars, over the next 10 years.
A big part of doing this will be relaxing restrictions on foreign ownership in the auto industry.
The government "will open up the restriction on joint venture ownership in an orderly manner," according to the blueprint, which did not give any specifics on how this liberalization will be carried out.
The target for NEV output and sales is about four times the current level. China sold 507,000 NEVs last year, the most in the world for a second year and up 53 percent from 2015, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
The government has offered handsome incentives to get people behind the wheel of clean cars and put a lot of effort into building up electrical charging infrastructure.
China is the world's largest auto market but lags behind front-runners in core technology, parts and components production, innovation and brand recognition.
Auto sales in China hit a record high of 28.03 million in 2016, up 13.7 percent from the year before and ranking the first among all countries, according to the CAAM. About half of the total were Chinese brands.
