The National Development and Reform Commission, the central economic planning agency, last week released "Directives on Promoting the Healthy and Sustainable Growth of Domestically-made Auto Products".

According to the document now posted on the Commission's Web site, the government will make it easy for auto and auto parts manufacturers to take out loans from domestic banks to fund their exports. It also pledges to make the services of the state-owned export credit insurer China Export & Credit Insurance Co. available to these companies to help them manage credit risks on overseas markets.

Although it does not say how, the government also pledges to help domestic auto and auto parts companies build overseas r&d centers and acquire foreign peers to improve their technology and product development capabilities.

With its support, the government hopes that domestic automakers can expand their exports from mainly commercial vehicles now, to passenger vehicles, compact cars and small and medium-sized buses, according to the directives. It also expects domestic parts suppliers to shift their export focus from mechanical products to machinery, electrical and electronic products.

The average annual growth of China's auto and auto parts exports was 50 percent between 2001 and 2007, according to the Commission. For 2008, the total export value reached $30.2 billion.

However, due to the global recession, exports have declined sharply this year, says the Commission.

Although the document does not give figures, numbers released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show the total export volume of Chinese auto manufacturers tumbled 55.3 percent year-on-year to 249,300 vehicles in the first nine months of this year, with total value of exports slumping 52.1 percent to $3.6 billion.

With its newly announced support measures, the Commission says it expects to see the export value of automobiles and auto parts made by domestic companies grow 10 percent annually over the next two years. It expects total auto and auto parts exports by domestic companies to reach $85 billion by 2015.