New energy the key advantage

At the end of last year, the group announced its 2025 strategy -- to set new energy vehicles as its future path. "BAIC will stop producing all fuel-powered vehicles in Beijing by the end of July 2018," the chairman said. The group will stop selling fuel-powered vehicles in the capital city by 2020, and expand the sales ban to the whole country by 2025, excluding special-purpose vehicles, Xu added.

As a leading player in China's new energy vehicle industry, BAIC Group has been the top seller of electric vehicles in China in the past five years. It even surpassed Tesla last year to become the global sales champion of electric vehicles.

"New energy vehicles have become the pillar business of BAIC," said Xu to reporters.

As of this year, Beijing Electric Vehicle Co Ltd (BJEV), a BAIC subsidiary focusing on electric vehicles, posted sales of 54,000 units in the first six months, up 78.5 percent. In terms of market share, BJEV topped the country and ranked among the top three electric automakers around the world. Beiqi Foton Motor, another BAIC subsidiary focused on commercial vehicles, witnessed sales of 1,142 units in new energy buses during the same period, an increase of 56 percent year-on-year, and grabbed the first special license plate for new energy buses.