Targeting the nationwide restrictions on compact cars, the controversial policies that discourage the purchase and use of cars with engines under 1.0 litre will certainly be phased out, a senior environmental protection official said yesterday.

Zhao Yingmin, head of the Department of Science, Technology and Standards under the State Environmental Protection Administration, encouraged the use and production of high-quality compact cars that are fuel efficient and more environmentally friendly, which supports the central government's call for building an energy-saving society.

"What the government encourages are high-quality compact cars with low emission and low fuel consumption," Zhao said.

Zhao said car manufacturers should speed up efforts to improve safety standards, comfort, power and design in order to attract consumers to buy cheaper models.

Premier Wen Jiabao said at the end of June that all unreasonable limitations on the use of low-engine vehicles should be scrapped.

The nation's new auto industry policy, launched in June by the National Development and Reform Commission, also encourages customers to buy low-emission vehicles.

Some local governments, however, did not seem keen to lift the ban despite the central government's clear preference for economical cars.

Discrimination against compact cars exists across the country. More than 80 cities have policies restricting the purchase and use of these kind of economical cars for a host of reasons, ranging from their bad image to traffic jams.

In Beijing, cars with less than 1.0-litre engines are banned on the Chang'an Avenue, the city's east-west artery.

In Shanghai, China's financial hub, automobiles with engines smaller than 1.2 litres are forbidden to use overpasses.

Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, has even stopped granting licence plates to cars under 1.0 litre.

Zhao said the power of the engine itself cannot indicate the overall performance of a car since cars with small engines and cheaper price tags are not all of low quality.

He said a compact car usually consumes 4-6 litres of fuel every 100 kilometers, but an ordinary sedan with a 1.6 or higher engine needs to guzzle 8-11 litres for the same distance.

"Generally speaking, a compact car can save 30-50 percent of fuel than an ordinary model annually," Zhao said. "Under the same technical levels, the emission of pollutants from small-engine cars is much lower than that from ordinary models."

As a growing number of new consumers are price-conscious people who are sensitive to fuel costs, automobile insiders say economical cars are gaining popularity in the world's third largest auto market.

(China Daily September 13, 2005)