China to lift ban on private cars on road for more than 15 years

The Associated Press

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2006

BEIJING China will scrap its ban on private cars that have been on the road more than 15 years in favor of testing vehicles for road-worthiness, state media said Wednesday.

Chen Lin, deputy head of China's Ministry of Commerce, was quoted as saying that new standards had yet to be finalized but they would consider a car's safety and emission levels instead of time on the road.

The report did not say if the new standards would cut the number of cars on China's roads.

China is the world's fourth-largest carmaker and third-largest automobile marker, with 16 million registered cars in 2004, up dramatically from just 1 million in 1994.

The boom in autos has brought with it severe traffic congestion, air pollution and rampant road accidents.