Employees get cracking in the stamping workshop at automaker Geely's manufacturing plant in Xi'an. [Photo/Xi'an municipal government's WeChat account]

Over the past decade, the automobile industry of Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, has developed rapidly, becoming an important pillar of the city's economic development.

At the end of 2012, Xi'an's residents owned about 1.4 million private cars, while by the end of 2021, the number of private cars in the city had increased to 3.69 million.

In 2012, the output value of Xi'an's automobile industry was less than 100 billion yuan ($13.99 billion). But by 2020, it had mushroomed to 126.61 billion yuan.

From January to July this year, the total output value of the city's automobile manufacturing industry increased by a hefty 34.5 percent, with auto output doubling year-on-year.

Xi'an now operates a large fleet of pure electric buses. [Photo/Xi'an municipal government's WeChat account]

Moreover, Xi'an's new energy vehicle (NEV) industry has never been in a finer state. An early start and strong technology have laid a solid foundation for the explosive growth of new energy vehicles in the past two years. In 2021, Xi'an produced and sold 269,000 NEVs, a year-on-year increase of 348.3 percent.

This year, the city has formulated and issued an action plan for further growth in its pillar industries – electronics information, automobiles, aerospace, high-end equipment, new materials and new energy, food and biomedicines – and for more improvements in industry supply chains.

As a result, Xi'an's automobile industry has ushered in a new era of positive development.

In addition, in recent years, Xi'an has carried out research into driverless testing, intelligent perception information processing and 5G technology – promoting the transformation of the automotive industry.

A group of self-driving minibus drives roll along a self-driving test section of road in Xi'an. [Photo/Xi'an municipal government's WeChat account]