China’s southern city of Shenzhen on Monday said that it would restrict new vehicle sales, joining Shanghai and Beijing in an escalating war against smog and snarling traffic.
More major Chinese cities are expected to follow suit, further hobbling China’s already slowing auto market and increasing pressure on international automakers, such as General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG, to accelerate expansion in China’s less affluent and less crowded western regions.
The special economic zone’s government said through its official microblog that it would cap the number of new vehicles sold in the city at 100,000 a year.
The annual quota in the city of 11 million people includes 20,000 electric cars and can be adjusted to account for changes in traffic, air pollution and vehicle demand, the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau Traffic Police Detachment Battalion said on its official microblog.
Shenzhen has at least 3 million vehicles on the road, the Yangcheng Evening News has reported.
The city is following a similar move earlier this year by Hangzhou.
Other cities that have placed restrictions include Tianjin, Guangzhou and Guiyang.
Vehicle emissions are the biggest contributor to China’s smog after coal consumption, the China Youth Daily reported on Dec. 8, citing Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences researcher Zhang Xiaoye (張小曳).
Shenzhen, which neighbors Hong Kong, is to distribute half of its license plates for conventional cars by auction and the rest — including those for electric cars — through lottery.
The cap started immediately and is to stay in place for five years, China National Radio reported on its microblog.
Consultancy McKinsey has forecast that by 2020, more than 20 Chinese cities would exceed a burdensome vehicle-density threshold of 250 vehicles per kilometer of roads, prompting officials to implement similar restrictions.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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