East China's Zhejiang province is seeking to build a world-class automotive industry cluster by 2022 when its auto production is expected to exceed 3.5 million units.

New energy vehicle production is expected to reach over 800,000 units by 2022, according to a four-year action plan on the quality development of Zhejiang's auto industry.

In 2022, the industrial output of Zhejiang's auto industry is expected to reach 1 trillion yuan ($147 billion), with 400 billion yuan from the auto makers and 600 billion yuan from the parts suppliers, according to the plan.

The province will focus on four major automotive platforms, one in Hangzhou, two in Ningbo and one in Taizhou, with more efforts on new energy vehicle facilities and global research and development headquarters, it said.

The authorities will push traditional gasoline-powered vehicle makers and parts suppliers to upgrade to connected cars and new energy vehicles, according to the plan.

Zhejiang will seek to build three national innovation centers for the automobile industry and support leading domestic brands to become world leaders.

Starting this year, local authorities will start building testing grounds for intelligent vehicles in cities like Hangzhou and Ningbo. They will also actively encourage companies, universities and research institutes like Geely, Alibaba, Hikvision and Zhejiang University to make breakthroughs in the key technologies of intelligent vehicles.