DETROIT, July 6 (UPI) -- The General Motors Corp. and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. may build gas-electric hybrid vehicles in China, the Detroit News reported Tuesday.
The newspaper said the world's largest automaker and its Chinese partner are exploring a joint venture to assemble a small fuel-efficient sport-utility hybrid that would be sold in China.
GM had no comment on the report.
The Chinese government reportedly is keenly interested in cleaner, advanced fuel-saving technology to limit pollution in crowded Chinese cities and cap rising oil imports that have jumped 30 percent since 2002.
GM is the second-largest foreign automaker in China after Germany's Volkswagen.
Honda and Toyota, which sell the Civic, Insight and the Prius, the most popular hybrids in the United States, also assemble cars and trucks at joint venture plants in China. They do not sell hybrids there.
Ford's 2005 Escape Hybrid will be the first hybrid SUV in the United States when it goes on sale this summer.
