(Yicai Global) June 13 -- China's Feiyan Piston Ring and Japan's Riken plan to invest set up a joint venture to manufacture piston rings and other automotive parts for diesel engines compliant with the new China 6 emissions standards.

The pair will register the firm in Feiyan's hometown Nanjing with CNY75 million (USD10.8 million) in registered capital, with the Chinese partner picking up a 60 percent stake, major Feiyan shareholder ZYNP said in a statement yesterday. Riken will have the option to raise its holding to 55 percent at a later date.

The joint venture will be able to make 1.2 million sets of piston rings for medium- and heavy-duty diesel engines each year once it starts production, according to a deal the firms signed on June 11.

China is set to roll out its new emissions standards nationwide in two phases. The China 6a standards for licensing and registration are set to be adopted nationwide from July 1, 2010, and China 6b standards are scheduled to begin three years later.

Several major cities, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, have all pledged to bring in the new standards ahead of the countrywide rollout. Beijing plans to introduce 6b standards for buses and sanitary vehicles from July 1 this year and all other vehicles from July next year.

The 6b standards are even tougher than their European equivalent, the Euro 6. Under Euro 6 standards, carbon monoxide emissions cannot exceed one gram, nitrogen oxide emissions cannot exceed 0.06 grams and particulate matter emissions cannot exceed 0.05 grams. Under China 6b, those figures become 0.5 grams, 0.035 grams and 0.03 grams.

Editor: James Boynton