Beijing slashes car sales quota in anti-pollution drive

China's capital, Beijing, infamous for its thick smog and heavy traffic, will slash the city's new car sales quotas by almost 40 percent next year, as it looks to curb vehicle emissions and hazardous levels of pollution, the city government website said. The change in policy gives greater support for new, cleaner cars and could strengthen foreign carmakers' determination to accelerate growth in China's less crowded lower-tier cities. In the last month alone, high levels of pollution have forced China to all but shut down the northeastern city of Harbin, a major urban center with a population of 11 million. Over the next four years, Beijing will issue 150,000 new license plates annually, down from 240,000 each year now, according to the city government's website.



via Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/beijing-says-cut-car-sale-quotas-almost-40-090814122.html