The Wall Street Journal (Beijing) - China issued new rules for vehicles purchased by public servants that require them to spend less and buy more fuel-efficient, smaller-engine vehicles, including electric cars, as it clamps down on growing criticism of extravagant spending.

The new rules, issued jointly earlier this month by the Communist Party and state agencies, come amid rising public anger over corruption. It also comes as China increasingly identifies rising fuel consumption as a public issue on both economic and environmental grounds.

Many Chinese government officials are allowed to purchase vehicles for official use, and a number of officials acquire luxury cars like the Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and often use chauffeurs on private as well as official business. Car use by public officials—who often aggressively assert themselves on the busy streets of China's crowded cities—feeds into public perceptions of corruption as the central government moves to crack down on offenses such as misuse of public funds.

The new rules lower the maximum amount that "regular," or mid-level, government officials can spend on their cars to 180,000 yuan (about $28,200) from 200,000. They also require officials to buy vehicles with engines smaller than 1.8 liters, according to an announcement posted on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Previously, those officials could purchase cars with engines as big as two liters.

The party and the government also added "new-energy vehicles"—all-electric cars and plug-in electric hybrid cars—to the government's list of cars that meet purchase rules.

It was unclear whether Chinese policy makers also enacted tougher rules for minister-level officials and other senior bureaucrats. According to an earlier draft of new rules seen by foreign auto officials, the maximum senior officials could spend would drop to 380,000 yuan from 450,000, while maximum engine size would drop to 2.5 liters from three liters. The new policy, and state-run media reports Friday, didn't mention those restrictions.

The state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday quoted Ye Qing, a deputy with the National People's Congress, China's legislature, as saying that the new policy is aimed at helping reduce government expenses by discouraging purchases of upper-scale cars while helping to cut emissions. The current budget for official vehicles in China is more than 100 billion yuan in total a year, Xinhua said.