The rules, which will come into effect on March 1, will introduce a licensing system to prevent domestic carmakers from cut-throat battles abroad and to weed out firms that are too small to compete internationally, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

In August, Geely was announced as one of China's 160 vehicle and spare parts exporting enterprises by the ministry.

Xu Changming, an auto industry analyst with the State Information Center, said: "Only small firms which sell a tiny number of cars abroad will be deprived of exporting rights under the new rules.

"China's vehicle exports will continue to grow rapidly."

There are more than 1,000 companies in China exporting vehicles, of which 600 sold less than 10 units each overseas last year, Xu said.

China's overall vehicle exports doubled to 340,000 units last year from 2005 with the number of passenger cars exported tripling to 90,000, according to data from the ministry.

Xu predicted the nation's 2007 vehicle exports will reach 500,000 units.

An executive from Chery, China's top car exporter, said in November that the firm aims to sell 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles abroad this year. It exported 50,000 units in 2005.

Geely said yesterday that it planned to lift its overall sales by half to 296,000 cars this year from last year. Its 2006 sales ranked No 10 among Chinese automakers.

It expects its share in China's car market to climb to more than 5 percent this year from 4.6 percent last year, the firm added.

Sales of all made-in-China vehicles are estimated to have exceeded 7 million units last year, enabling the nation to outpace Japan and become the world's second-biggest vehicle market.

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