The world's biggest car makers are displaying their green and luxury credentials at this year's Beijing auto show in a bid to capitalize on China's still growing car market.

Under the theme "Imagining the Green Future," multinationals have unveiled a range of all-electric or hybrid concept vehicles.

Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, announced it would introduce its advanced hybrid and electric car technologies to China, and start producing electric cars in China in 2013 and 2014.

"The China electric vehicle strategy is the first our group has tailor-made for a certain country," said Winfried Vahland, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group China.

The company is displaying its energy-saving and environment-friendly "BlueMotion" technologies, which, it claims, can reduce fuel consumption and emissions by 20 percent for the full range of models from VW's two joint ventures in China.

Nissan, Japan's third largest carmaker, said China was its second largest market after the United States. The show saw the world debut of the electric Nissan LEAF and the low-carbon compact, the March.

Sales of the LEAF are set to begin in Europe, the United States and Japan later this year, with mass production worldwide planned in 2012.

Nissan China president Yasuaki Hashimoto said Nissan would roll out 25 electric vehicles in central China's Wuhan city next year as trials.

The LEAF can run up to 160 km on a full charge, which can be done through a 200-volt home outlet and takes about 8 hours, the firm claims.

Luxury car brand BMW will introduce its electric Mini on the Chinese market this year, followed by its ActiveE next year.

The company is to provide 50 all-electric Minis to China by the end of this year for road trials under agreements with the China Automotive Technology and Research Center and the State Grid.

LUXURY BRANDS

Infiniti, the luxury division of Nissan, is determined to further explore China's high-end car market at the auto show.

Yasuaki Hashimoto said Infiniti was seeing strong growth in China with first-quarter sales soaring 184 percent year on year.

He gave no specific sales figures for the first quarter, but said Infiniti sold 5,000 cars in China last year, and aimed to double sales to 10,000 this year.

He said vehicles with engines of up to 1.6 liters sold well in China due to government policies rolled out last year to encourage demand for small-engine cars. "This, however, does not mean luxury cars won't sell well as the high-end car market grew 30 percent last year."

Infiniti had 19 dealerships in China's major cities with 11 more expected to be established by the end of 2011, he said.

China was becoming the most rapidly developing market for luxury cars, said Victor Muller, CEO of Netherlands-based sports carmaker Spyker Cars.

The company announced Sunday it had signed an agreement authorizing China Automobile Trading Co. (CATC), one of the country's major importers, as Spyker's sole general distributor for its new models in China.

As China was already the world's largest car market, global auto makers would have trouble progressing without clear market strategies, he said.

Spyker was optimistic about China's luxury car market, and would collaborate with Chinese partners to explore its potential, said Muller.

POST-CRISIS HOPE

One of the biggest car events this year, the 2010 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which runs till May 2, has become a platform for global auto giants to unveil medium and long-term targets.

Major automakers saw declines in global sales with the economic downturn last year while their profits in the world's third largest economy rose, due to government incentives to stimulate consumption.

China's auto sales hit 13.64 million units last year, making it the world's largest market. Sales in the first quarter this year were 4.61 million, up 71.78 percent year on year, according to official figures.