Beijing appears to be rethinking its singular focus on electric vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and improve air quality as it becomes increasingly clear that its targets for mass-producing electric vehicles in China are unrealistic.

China had planned to leapfrog a generation of conventional engine technology to develop what Beijing hoped would be an early advantage over the west in electric vehicles. No formal decision has been taken to abandon that plan, but top decision-makers in Beijing see its original timetable as too optimistic.

Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, reflected intense debate within the bureaucracy recently in a Communist party journal article that questioned China’s “road map” towards alternative vehicles. Peter Huang, forecaster at consultants IHS Automotive in Shanghai, expected Beijing to shift its focus to “hybrids and all vehicles that can reduce fuel consumption”.