China Car Industry ‘Scapegoat’ for Toxic Smog, Group Says

China’s auto association said the car industry has become a “scapegoat” for the toxic smog that engulfed Beijing in the past month and that coal-fired power plants should bear the main responsibility for the pollution.

“The auto industry has already borne too much undeserved responsibility in recent years with the purchase and usage restrictions,” said Ye Shengji, deputy secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. “With the toxic smog, the auto industry is once again being blamed and scapegoated as the main culprit, which is unreasonable.”