China looks at plans to ban petrol and diesel cars

China, the world's biggest car market, plans to ban the production and sale of diesel and petrol cars and vans.

The country's vice minister of industry said it had started "relevant research" but that it had not yet decided when the ban would come into force.

"Those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry's development," Xin Guobin told Xinhua, China's official news agency

China made 28 million cars last year, almost a third of the global total.

Both the UK and France have already announced plans to ban new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040, as part of efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions.

Chinese-owned carmaker Volvo said in July that all its new car models would have an electric motor from 2019.

Geely, Volvo's Chinese owner, aims to sell one million electric cars by 2025.

 

 

Photo: GETTY IMAGES  Caption: China wants more electric cars on the road to fight pollution