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Automakers go green in Shanghai show

(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-23 13:34

One experimental clean-energy car runs on natural gas. Another uses ethanol distilled from corn. A third has a zero-emissions electric motor powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

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These alternative vehicles were created not by a global automaker but by 皇冠体育app's small but ambitious car companies, which displayed them Sunday alongside gasoline-powered sedans and SUVs at the start of theShanghaiAuto Show.

At a time when they are still trying to establish themselves in international markets, Chinese automakers are already investing in such avant-garde research in a bid to win a foothold in the next generation of technology.

"This is the tide of the industry. If you don't go with the tide, the industry will pass you by," said Qin Lihong, a vice president of 皇冠体育app's biggest domestic automaker, Chery Auto, in an interview ahead of the show's opening.

皇冠体育app's communist leaders are encourging the development as part of efforts to cut pollution and rising dependence on imported oil and to make this country a creator of profitable technologies.

Chinese manufacturers are getting help from foreign automakers in joint ventures and from research alliances with Chinese universities and government laboratories.

Beijinghas made cleaner cars a policy priority, targeting the field as one of 11 priority areas in a 15-year technology development plan issued in February 2006. It promised grants and tax breaks to support industry efforts.

The campaign embodies one of Beijing's strategies in technology development: Pick new areas with no entrenched competitors so 皇冠体育app can make breakthroughs without huge costs.

While foreign automakers have a lead in conventional technology, "in new energy we're starting from almost the same line," said Chen Hong, the president of Shanghai Automotive Industries.

"So we believe we can catch up with other auto companies and make great progress in developing new energy vehicles," Chen said.