Auto analysts said, however, it is still a long road ahead for domestic car producers to roll out models that are purely developed by themselves despite the hype the concept is sweeping the nation.

Several weeks ago, FAW, China's largest carmaker, launched a new so-called self-designed sedan in Shanghai. The firm claimed the Benteng, which means "galloping forward" in Chinese, is China's first domestically designed sedan in the mid-to-high end market.

However, the model, powered by a 2.3-liter or 2.0-liter engine, was developed on the platform of the Mazda 6, which is also produced by FAW under licensed production from Japan's Mazda Motor Corp.

Its Benteng model uses core auto parts from Mazda including Mazda 6's engine, power and transmission systems. But the Chinese firm has made changes to body design, safety equipment, interior decoration and incorporated a thickened steel board and over 3,883 welding spots over the past three years developing the Benteng.

But the Benteng is not alone. SAIC, China's second largest carmaker, will also roll out its first self-branded models based on the Rover 25 and Rover 75 after it bought intellectual property rights from the failed British MG Rover.

More and more models are being labeled as self-designed but they share a lot in common with various home-produced models introduced by foreign carmakers including General Motors Corp, Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford.

"Strictly speaking, models like Benteng could not be called a self-developed model as its core spare parts were not made by ourselves (domestic carmakers)," said Ma Jun, vice professor of the automotive college at Shanghai-based Tongji University.

"The (so-called) self-development is actually a complete knocked down model with little changes to meet local demand," he pointed out.

He also pointed out that Chinese automakers should acquire "technology in car design, modules, brands as well as spare parts," but it "is difficult to achieve for the toddling Chinese auto industry now."

Last year, China's vehicle sales surpassed Japan to rank as the world's second largest auto market. But over 80 percent of the technology, especially engines and transmission systems were made by foreign carmakers.

Domestic state-owned carmakers including FAW, SAIC, Dongfeng Automotive Group, Chang'an Auto and Jianghuai Auto, all plan to launch models under their name plates to echo the government's call to develop self-designed models in the 11th Five-Year Plan starting this year.

Zhang Xin, an auto analyst at Guotai Jun'an Securities Co Ltd, said self-development doesn't mean that one invents a model from scratch.

"Learning from advanced technology would help to shorten the R&D efforts, avoid repeating the mistakes and it's not a matter of patent infringement or copyright dispute either. But we are also encouraging more technology innovation to boost the development of the whole industry over the long term," Zhang said.

Chinese state-owned automakers used to rely on models introduced by foreign partners to lower the R&D costs and make profit more quickly.

"China's auto industry has spent the past 10 years to achieve development that took foreign counterparts 30 years to do. We need time to absorb the technology and it may be another five to 10 years before we roll out a genuine self-developed model," Ma said.

Between 1985 and 2005, the Chinese domestic automakers made 15,686 patent applications, but they represented only one-fortieth of that in the information technology industry.

But Chinese carmakers are catching up quickly.

In 2004, Chang'an Group registered 106 patents, surpassing the combined number over the past 10 years. Last year, 160 patents were registered.

SAIC has invested 1.8 billion yuan (US$225 million) to expand its auto R&D institute to produce hybrid vehicles and fuel cell models.

Zhejiang Province-based Geely automobile Co Ltd, one of China's leading private carmakers, together with Brilliance China Automotive Holding Ltd, Chery Automobile Co Ltd and BYD Automobile Co Ltd has already developed engines using their own technology.

The technology of an engine, the most essential core part in a car, used to be controlled by foreign counterparts and the high royalty fees created a roadblock to reduce the auto costs on home-made models.

Geely, which specializes in producing small vehicles and is China's leading private carmaker, has invested more than 100 million yuan to develop engines with the highly advanced CVVT - continuously variable valve timing - technology that is able to generate 140 horsepowers, on par with Toyota's new CVVT engine.

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