China started to cut prices for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel at the zero hour today. The price of gasoline is cut by 0.91 yuan ($0.133) while the price of diesel has fallen by 1.08 yuan. Jet fuel prices has dropped by 2,400 yuan per ton. The cuts will help trucking companies, airlines, factories and others that are being squeezed by high fuel prices and a slump in sales, state media reported Friday.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is considering cutting down the upcoming fuel tax rate after collecting suggestions of trading companies and pubic users, a trader was quoted by Dow Jones as saying yesterday.

SUV sales in the Chinese market rose by 33.7% to 44,097 units from January to November, according to data released by China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

China's top economic planning body has received proposals from China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) to reform the fuel tax mechanism, and may start to cut passenger vehicle purchase tax based on the proposals sometime next year, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported Tuesday.

China is considering taking new steps to help the automotive industry and encourage customers to buy vehicles with lower exhaust emissions, the Associated Press reported.

Antonov, the UK-based automatic transmission developer, has recently secured the first confirmed customer in China for its latest six- speed automatic transmission (6AT)--the Chongqing-based Lifan Motors.

As a slowing domestic economy dented consumer confidence, China's passenger vehicle sales in November fell about 15% from one year earlier, Reuters quoted a research report of Nomura International as saying on Wednesday.

From January to October, China imported more than 340,000 completed vehicles and chassis, up 39.7% year on year, Beijing Youth said. The total import value reached $12.7 billion, a 51.5% increase from a year ealier.

Source from Ford (China) Co and Volvo China said production of Volvo cars at Chongqing plant will not be affected by the possible sale of the brand by its US parent.

Although the current sufferings of the three U.S. auto giants - General Motors, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor - have not obviously affected their joint ventures or operations in the China, the meltdown or bankruptcy of the three giants, if materialized, will do more harm than good to China's auto industry and even Chinese economy as a whole.

China's state information center has recently announced its projection of the country's auto sales for this year, saying that the sales will hit an estimated 9.6 million units, a considerable drop from the industry forecast made at the beginning of the year.

Shanghai GM, the joint venture between China’s SAIC and General Motors (GM), will continue to increase investment despite the troubled U.S. auto giant General Motors amid financial crisis, peplenet.com said today, citing SAIC vice president and Shanghai GM general manager Ding Lei.