He revealed that the government will soon announce the new list of pilot cities this year to combat pollution, especially in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.

"The promotion will include more cities and hopefully raise the total number of new energy vehicles put into use to 300,000," Wu said.

To speed up the industrialization of new-energy vehicles, the country has launched 25 technological innovation projects and will allocate 4 billion yuan ($655 million) from central finance as a subsidy, Su Bo, associate minister of industry and information technology, said during the Green Industry Conference 2013 held in Guangzhou from Nov 7 to 9.

China provides buyers of new-energy vehicles with a bigger subsidy than any other country, according to Wu from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center. For example, the total subsidy for an electric car in China received from the central government and the local government is about 120,000 yuan, double that in the US.

The auto companies and component manufacturers from home and abroad who attended the seminar during the 2013 China International Green Innovative Products and Technologies Show in Guangzhou reached a consensus that it is a must for the country to develop energy-saving and new-energy vehicles and that it is a timely moment now for them to transform and upgrade the auto industry.

Zhang Xiyong, acting general manager of BAIC Motor, said his group is planning to invest 5 billion yuan in developing new-energy vehicles over the next five years, with 30 percent of annual research funding allocated to new-energy vehicle projects.

"The shortage of fossil energy, the rising of oil prices and the thirst for efficient secondary energy have made countries all over the world to make the development of new-energy vehicles a national strategy," Zhang said.

"The deteriorating air quality in China has made it an urgent task to promote the usage of new-energy vehicles," said the acting general manager of the corporation based in often haze-shrouded Beijing.

BAIC Motor had sold 5,000 new-energy vehicles by 2012 and its production capacity is currently 40,000 per year. Zhang revealed that sales in 2013 are expected to hit 3,300, and the company will endeavor to bring the production capacity to 200,000 annually by 2017.

SAIC Motor, one of the country's three biggest auto groups, has also set an ambitious goal of taking 20 percent of the domestic market of new energy vehicles by 2015.

Gan Pin, executive director of the group's department of new-energy vehicle and technology management, pointed out at the seminar in Guangzhou that the tightened national standards on the average fuel consumption for auto companies is another big drive for the companies to develop energy-saving and new-energy vehicles.