China's auto industry is undergoing a period of booming development, and the total output this year is expected exceed 4 million sets, said Zhang Xiaoyu, director of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, Tuesday.

The Chinese government is expected to promulgate a new policy for the development of the industry next month, Zhang said at an automotive industry forum.

China's auto industry started in 1953, when the state-owned automaker First Automotive Works was set up. So far, the enterprises involving foreign capital have invested more than US$30 million in the industry, and foreign and private investment accounts for over 50 percent of the total capital of the sector.

During the past decade, China's annual gross domestic product grew by 9.3 percent on average, and the growth rate of the auto industry was 15 percent.

According to the government's blueprint, the national economy should double over the next ten years, which means an average annual growth of 7 percent. So the auto industry will keep an annual growth rate of 5 percent to 10 percent, and the output of automobiles is predicted to hit 8 million vehicles in 2010, Zhang said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2003)