(Yicai Global) Dec. 19 -- China's National Development and Reform Commission will end approvals for setting up new conventional fuel-based vehicle makers, according to new regulations for the country's auto sector.

The new rules will strictly control new capacity additions for fuel vehicle makers, the NDRC said in a statement.

The new regulations aim to guide carmakers to advance industrial transformation centered on optimizing the distribution of capacity and making breakthroughs in core technologies, the statement said. The body will also further increase the threshold for setting up new pure electric vehicle projects, and actively guide the healthy and orderly development of new energy vehicles.

Existing carmakers will no longer be able to secure approvals for the expansion of fuel vehicle plants without satisfying five conditions, which include an above-average utilization rate over the last two years and competitiveness on an international level.

The changes require that newly established independent pure electronic vehicle makers are capable of producing 100,000 pure electronic passenger cars and 5,000 commercial vehicles.

Editor:  William Clegg