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

Beijing has 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 China 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 Corp.

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

China's leaders are pressing its auto, steel, manufacturing and other industries to improve energy efficiency and cut pollution.

They see China's rising reliance on imported oil as a strategic weakness, especially since much of it comes from the politically volatile Middle East and crosses seas beyond Beijing's control.

China already is the world's No. 2 oil consumer after the United States and saw imports soar by 14.5 percent in 2006, driven by economic growth that has topped 10 percent for the past four years.

A boom in car sales has added to smog shrouding China's major cities, which are among the world's dirtiest. Vehicle sales jumped 25.1 percent last year to 7.2 million units, including 3.8 million passenger cars.