URUMQI, June 27 -- Consumers in west China can expect cheaper imported vehicles when a land port in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region starts importing finished vehicles next month.

The Alataw Pass port on the Kazakhstan border, China's largest inland port, previously imported only auto parts.

Most of China's imported vehicles come through the coastal cities of Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou, so it takes a longer time and is more costly for imported vehicles to arrive in west China, said Cao Zaoping, deputy head of the Alataw Pass bonded area administration committee.

It takes only 15 days for European vehicles to arrive in Xinjiang by cargo train, one month quicker and 5 percent cheaper than through coastal ports, said Cao.

More than 40 international cargo trains, which connect Chinese cities with Europe, pass through Alataw Pass every month.

Alataw Pass receives a combination of railway, highway and pipeline imports. Crude oil, petroleum products, electrolytic copper and cotton are the main imports through the port.