The Chinese government has confirmed it is investigating a ban on the production and sales of diesel and petrol-powered vehicles.
Speaking to the country’s official news agency Xinhua, vice minister of industry Xin Guobin said that research was underway to ban traditionally-powered vehicles but said no decision has been made on the timeline of the ban.
“Those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry’s development,” he said.
China is the world’s largest car market and a ban on the production and sale of petrol and diesel vehicles in the country would likely deal a fatal blow to vehicles with internal combustion engines.
The likes of France and the UK will ban sales of diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040 and China has previously said that it hopes all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will account for at least one-fifth of all vehicle sales by 2025, the BBC reports.
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