BEIJING, July 21 -- China will continue to stabilize and expand the consumption of automobiles in the country, according to measures released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Friday.

The measures were also mapped out to optimize the purchase, use and management of automobiles, as well as the automobile market, and to promote the sustainable development of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry.

Cities with automobile purchase restrictions are encouraged to increase their annual quotas, and the scrapping of vehicles not up to emissions standards will be accelerated, the commission said.

The measures will also encourage trade-ins and the exit of obsolete cars, and facilitate the trading and registration of used vehicles.

More pilot projects will be implemented in the utility vehicle sector, and more charging infrastructure will be built at bus stations.

Increased credit support, such as insurance for charging piles, will be provided, and parking issues will be resolved through the expansion of parking lots and the regulation of fees, per the measures.

The NDRC said that more efforts will be invested in lowering the costs of the purchase and use of NEVs, such as adjustments to NEV-related electricity prices.

To unleash domestic consumption potential further, China has extended its preferential purchase tax policy for NEVs to the end of 2027.

The country in May released a guideline to support rural residents in purchasing NEVs, focusing on boosting the construction of charging infrastructure.

By the end of June this year, the number of charging piles in China was over 6.6 million, according to NDRC official Huo Fupeng.

China built more than 1.44 million charging piles in the first half of 2023, of which 351,000 are public charging piles, Huo told a press conference on Friday.

In the first half of 2023, China's NEV output expanded 42.4 percent year on year to nearly 3.79 million units, and NEV sales surged 44.1 percent year on year to almost 3.75 million units, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows.

The country exported 534,000 NEVs in the first six months, an expansion of 160 percent from a year earlier, according to Huo.

In a separate document unveiled on Friday by the NDRC in conjunction with other government departments, China also specified measures to stabilize and boost the consumption of electronic products.

Efforts will be made to encourage the upgrading of electronic products and technologies, and to promote the rural consumption of home appliances, according to the measures.

China will accelerate its creation of an improved consumer environment for electronic products by improving the protection of personal information, and it will establish a sound standards system for smart electronic products to enhance connections between different brands and types of products, the document said.