China's leaders are pressing its auto, steel, manufacturing and other industries to improve energy efficiency and cut pollution.

They see China's rising reliance on imported oil as a strategic weakness.

China already is the world's No. 2 oil consumer after the United States and saw imports soar by 14.5 percent in 2006, driven by economic growth that has topped 10 percent for the past four years.

A boom in car sales has added to smog shrouding China's major cities, which are among the world's dirtiest. Vehicle sales jumped 25.1 percent last year to 7.2 million units, including 3.8 million passenger cars.

At the Shanghai show, both SAIC and Chery displayed experimental fuel-cell sedans, while they and a third Chinese automaker, Chang'an Automobile Group Co., also showed gasoline-electric hybrids.

SAIC said it will start selling its hybrid next year, while Qin said Chery's would go on the market in two to three years.

"The hybrid will be our focus," SAIC chairman Hu Maoyan said at a news conference. "The fuel cell will be our direction."

SAIC has spent 100 million yuan ($12 million) on fuel cell research, according to state media.

Chery had the widest array of alternative vehicles on display at the Shanghai show. They included models outfitted to run on bio-diesel made from vegetable oil or a "flexible fuel" choice of compressed natural gas or ethanol.

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