diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
index 875e168999..af05bb5e2e 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
@@ -264,29 +264,40 @@ class TemplateParseVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
         this._createElementPropertyAsts(element.name, elementOrDirectiveProps, directives);
     var children = htmlVisitAll(preparsedElement.nonBindable ? NON_BINDABLE_VISITOR : this,
                                 element.children, Component.create(directives));
-    var elementNgContentIndex =
-        hasInlineTemplates ? null : component.findNgContentIndex(elementCssSelector);
+
+    // Override the actual selector when the `ngProjectAs` attribute is provided
+    var projectionSelector = isPresent(preparsedElement.projectAs) ?
+                                 CssSelector.parse(preparsedElement.projectAs)[0] :
+                                 elementCssSelector;
+    var ngContentIndex = component.findNgContentIndex(projectionSelector);
     var parsedElement;
+
     if (preparsedElement.type === PreparsedElementType.NG_CONTENT) {
       if (isPresent(element.children) && element.children.length > 0) {
         this._reportError(
             `<ng-content> element cannot have content. <ng-content> must be immediately followed by </ng-content>`,
             element.sourceSpan);
       }
-      parsedElement =
-          new NgContentAst(this.ngContentCount++, elementNgContentIndex, element.sourceSpan);
+
+      parsedElement = new NgContentAst(
+          this.ngContentCount++, hasInlineTemplates ? null : ngContentIndex, element.sourceSpan);
     } else if (isTemplateElement) {
       this._assertAllEventsPublishedByDirectives(directives, events);
       this._assertNoComponentsNorElementBindingsOnTemplate(directives, elementProps,
                                                            element.sourceSpan);
-      parsedElement = new EmbeddedTemplateAst(attrs, events, vars, directives, children,
-                                              elementNgContentIndex, element.sourceSpan);
+
+      parsedElement =
+          new EmbeddedTemplateAst(attrs, events, vars, directives, children,
+                                  hasInlineTemplates ? null : ngContentIndex, element.sourceSpan);
     } else {
       this._assertOnlyOneComponent(directives, element.sourceSpan);
       var elementExportAsVars = vars.filter(varAst => varAst.value.length === 0);
+      let ngContentIndex =
+          hasInlineTemplates ? null : component.findNgContentIndex(projectionSelector);
+
       parsedElement =
           new ElementAst(nodeName, attrs, elementProps, events, elementExportAsVars, directives,
-                         children, elementNgContentIndex, element.sourceSpan);
+                         children, hasInlineTemplates ? null : ngContentIndex, element.sourceSpan);
     }
     if (hasInlineTemplates) {
       var templateCssSelector = createElementCssSelector(TEMPLATE_ELEMENT, templateMatchableAttrs);
@@ -297,9 +308,9 @@ class TemplateParseVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
           element.name, templateElementOrDirectiveProps, templateDirectives);
       this._assertNoComponentsNorElementBindingsOnTemplate(templateDirectives, templateElementProps,
                                                            element.sourceSpan);
-      parsedElement = new EmbeddedTemplateAst(
-          [], [], templateVars, templateDirectives, [parsedElement],
-          component.findNgContentIndex(templateCssSelector), element.sourceSpan);
+
+      parsedElement = new EmbeddedTemplateAst([], [], templateVars, templateDirectives,
+                                              [parsedElement], ngContentIndex, element.sourceSpan);
     }
     return parsedElement;
   }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_preparser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_preparser.ts
index 6c2948d013..020bb47b98 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_preparser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_preparser.ts
@@ -11,12 +11,14 @@ const LINK_STYLE_REL_VALUE = 'stylesheet';
 const STYLE_ELEMENT = 'style';
 const SCRIPT_ELEMENT = 'script';
 const NG_NON_BINDABLE_ATTR = 'ngNonBindable';
+const NG_PROJECT_AS = 'ngProjectAs';
 
 export function preparseElement(ast: HtmlElementAst): PreparsedElement {
   var selectAttr = null;
   var hrefAttr = null;
   var relAttr = null;
   var nonBindable = false;
+  var projectAs: string = null;
   ast.attrs.forEach(attr => {
     let lcAttrName = attr.name.toLowerCase();
     if (lcAttrName == NG_CONTENT_SELECT_ATTR) {
@@ -27,6 +29,10 @@ export function preparseElement(ast: HtmlElementAst): PreparsedElement {
       relAttr = attr.value;
     } else if (attr.name == NG_NON_BINDABLE_ATTR) {
       nonBindable = true;
+    } else if (attr.name == NG_PROJECT_AS) {
+      if (attr.value.length > 0) {
+        projectAs = attr.value;
+      }
     }
   });
   selectAttr = normalizeNgContentSelect(selectAttr);
@@ -41,7 +47,7 @@ export function preparseElement(ast: HtmlElementAst): PreparsedElement {
   } else if (nodeName == LINK_ELEMENT && relAttr == LINK_STYLE_REL_VALUE) {
     type = PreparsedElementType.STYLESHEET;
   }
-  return new PreparsedElement(type, selectAttr, hrefAttr, nonBindable);
+  return new PreparsedElement(type, selectAttr, hrefAttr, nonBindable, projectAs);
 }
 
 export enum PreparsedElementType {
@@ -54,7 +60,7 @@ export enum PreparsedElementType {
 
 export class PreparsedElement {
   constructor(public type: PreparsedElementType, public selectAttr: string, public hrefAttr: string,
-              public nonBindable: boolean) {}
+              public nonBindable: boolean, public projectAs: string) {}
 }
 
 
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts
index f473e47a98..b812af8f49 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts
@@ -686,6 +686,39 @@ There is no directive with "exportAs" set to "dirA" ("<div [ERROR ->]#a="dirA"><
                                                [createComp('div', ['*'])])))
             .toEqual([['div', null], ['#text({{hello}})', 0], ['span', 0]]);
       });
+
+      it('should match the element when there is an inline template', () => {
+        expect(humanizeContentProjection(
+                   parse('<div><b *ngIf="cond"></b></div>', [createComp('div', ['a', 'b']), ngIf])))
+            .toEqual([['div', null], ['template', 1], ['b', null]]);
+      });
+
+      describe('ngProjectAs', () => {
+        it('should override elements', () => {
+          expect(humanizeContentProjection(
+                     parse('<div><a ngProjectAs="b"></a></div>', [createComp('div', ['a', 'b'])])))
+              .toEqual([['div', null], ['a', 1]]);
+        });
+
+        it('should override <ng-content>', () => {
+          expect(humanizeContentProjection(
+                     parse('<div><ng-content ngProjectAs="b"></ng-content></div>',
+                           [createComp('div', ['ng-content', 'b'])])))
+              .toEqual([['div', null], ['ng-content', 1]]);
+        });
+
+        it('should override <template>', () => {
+          expect(humanizeContentProjection(parse('<div><template ngProjectAs="b"></template></div>',
+                                                 [createComp('div', ['template', 'b'])])))
+              .toEqual([['div', null], ['template', 1]]);
+        });
+
+        it('should override inline templates', () => {
+          expect(humanizeContentProjection(parse('<div><a *ngIf="cond" ngProjectAs="b"></a></div>',
+                                                 [createComp('div', ['a', 'b']), ngIf])))
+              .toEqual([['div', null], ['template', 1], ['a', null]]);
+        });
+      });
     });
 
     describe('splitClasses', () => {
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_preparser_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_preparser_spec.ts
index 48ae9b6da5..80b550de37 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_preparser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_preparser_spec.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ export function main() {
     beforeEach(inject([HtmlParser], (_htmlParser: HtmlParser) => { htmlParser = _htmlParser; }));
 
     function preparse(html: string): PreparsedElement {
-      return preparseElement(htmlParser.parse(html, '').rootNodes[0]);
+      return preparseElement(htmlParser.parse(html, 'TestComp').rootNodes[0]);
     }
 
     it('should detect script elements', inject([HtmlParser], (htmlParser: HtmlParser) => {
@@ -54,5 +54,8 @@ export function main() {
          expect(preparse('<ng-content select="*">').selectAttr).toEqual('*');
        }));
 
+    it('should extract ngProjectAs value', () => {
+      expect(preparse('<p ngProjectAs="el[attr].class"></p>').projectAs).toEqual('el[attr].class');
+    });
   });
 }