It will be a case of ’sweet home Alabama’ for Yang Rong, a Chinese automobile tycoon who is preparing to launch a plan to make clean-tech cars in the United States.

A report in Reuters suggests that the former chairman of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd, who was ranked by Forbes as China’s third richest man in 2001 and fled the country after being accused of economic crimes, will announce a plan this month to set up a company in the southern state.

He has strong backing too if the reports are to be believed with former US Vice President Al Gore, one of the world’s most visible environmental activists, offering his backing although the source was not specific as to what form that backing will take.

Yang, who now lives in California, is said to have hired a former senior executive of top US car maker General Motors Corporation to run the firm’s daily operations and the company will be seeking financial support from the US Department of Energy.

However, there are warnings that the venture may face some tough obstacles according to David Cole, the chairman of the Centre for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He states that it could cost billions of dollars and would run headlong into tough competition.  

Yang is likely to co-operate with the Alabama state government on the project which is expected to create thousands of jobs in its initial phase, according to the source. There has been no comment from Alabama economic development officials.