China’s world biggest car plans to ban production, sales of diesel, petrol 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, Xin Guobin said it had started relevant research but has not yet decided when the ban would come into force.

Guobin told newsmen that those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry’s development

China made twenty-eight million cars last year, almost a third of the global total.

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

Meanwhile, both the United Kingdom and France had announced plans to ban new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040, as part of efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions.