China's third largest domestic automaker released its plan last week. The company says it will commercialize hybrid cars first, to be followed by "pure" electric passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

The newspaper did not indicate whether Dongfeng's hybrid vehicles will be plug-ins.

Dongfeng's plan also indicates that the company will develop its own EV batteries, according to the Shanghai Daily.

Dongfeng, which is based in Wuhan in Hubei Province, has joint-venture partnerships with Honda Motor Co. and PSA Peugeot Citroen.

The company hopes to sell 100,000 hybrid vehicles and 50,000 electric cars by 2015. Ultimately the company expects alternative-fuel vehicles will generate 20 percent of sales of Dongfeng-brand passenger cars.

"We have set new-energy vehicles as our mid-to-long term strategy, and we want to grab the business opportunity and lead the industry," said company Chairman Xu Ping, according to the newspaper.

Currently, Dongfeng is road-testing 400 alternative-fuel vehicles in Wuhan, Shanghai and other cities.

In June, China announced plans to subsidize purchases of energy-efficient cars in five cities.