BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The "Mengshi (Warriors)" off-road military vehicle produced by Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor surpasses U.S. Humvee in 12 out of 15 major battlefield performance indices, chief designer Huang Song has said.

    Use by the Chinese military force has proven that "Mengshi" overtakes Humvee in 12 indices, including the loading capacity andoil consumption, and are well-matched with Humvee in three other indices, Huang was quoted as saying by Monday's Economic Information Daily, a Xinhua publication.

    It took Dongfeng six years to develop the vehicle, which had undergone more than 200,000 hours of factory tests and more than 1.6 million kilometers of road tests before mass production.

    The vehicle was formally equipped to the People's Liberation Army in 2007.

    "Mengshi" has also passed various environmental and geological tests, including airdropping, high altitude and extreme heat and cold weather conditions.

    With 75 patents, the 1.5-ton high mobility vehicle met all military requirements, said Huang.

    It also won the first class award of national science and technology progress at the 2008 State Top Scientific and Technological Awarding Conference here last Friday.

    This was the first such award won by the auto industry in 22 years.