China's automakers urged to improve quality management

BEIJING, March 14 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Information and Technology (MIIT) issued a guideline Sunday, urging the nation's auto producers to establish quality accountability mechanism to improve quality management.

The MIIT warned auto production enterprises against blind expansion, urging them to focus more on technology upgrade and improve product quality by using "new technology, new technics, new equipment and new materials."

Auto producers were also asked to strengthen after-sale service, setting up an accountability mechanism to timely recall and deal with the faulty products.

As China's auto industry is at a stage of rapid development, it should take effective measures to ensure product quality, so as to prompt the industry to develop in a sound and healthy way, said an official with the MIIT.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that new auto sales rose 46.15 percent year on year to 13.64 million units in 2009 in China, helping the country overtake the United States as the world's largest auto market.