This Day, That Year

Editor's note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy.

On July 3, 1985, the first Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition opened at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

About 330 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions attended the biennial event and on the opening day it attracted more than 20,000 visitors, although cars were rare things for most Chinese at that time.

Since then, the auto sector has developed rapidly with China becoming the world's largest vehicle producer in 2009, passing the United States. About 13.8 million vehicles were produced in China that year.

Accounting for some 28.9 million car sales in China last year, global carmakers have been expanding their presence in the country to woo the world's largest auto market.

In the latest major auto show in Beijing in April, industry behemoths including Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen displayed more than 1,000 models and dozens of concept cars.

Not only foreign automakers, domestic manufacturers have been catching up with a separate exhibition hall to themselves at the auto show.

For the first time, China's automakers exported more than 1 million vehicles last year, up from only 19,000 in 2001, according to the Minis-try of Industry and Information Technology.

To fight against air pollution, the country has been pushing an all-electric future.

Last year, policymakers announced that roughly 10 percent of passenger vehicles sold next year will be zero-emission new energy vehicles, moving up to 12 percent by 2020 and growing year-by-year. Government subsidies are allocated to help consumers purchase the green cars.

(China Daily 07/03/2018 page22)