BEIJING - The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology started soliciting public opinion on a revised regulation on scoring the fuel consumption of traditional passenger cars and new energy vehicle (NEV) outputs for automakers and importers.

The revision expects to categorize methanol- and ether-fueled cars as traditional vehicles and push automakers to rev up NEV output from 2021 to 2023, according to a document released by the ministry Tuesday.

To reduce energy consumption and expand sales of NEVs, China imposed tough regulations from April 2018 on passenger car makers and importers, who will be given two separate scores on traditional vehicles' energy efficiency and NEV production.

If they fail to amass enough credits for either traditional vehicles or NEVs, they may face penalties and their products may not be allowed on the road.

The country's new energy passenger vehicles surged 65.9 percent year-on-year to 577,000 units during the January-June period, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.