China auto sales up 7.6 pct in January

China's auto production and sales continued to grow in January, boosted mainly by passenger cars.

There were 2.29 million cars made and 2.32 million cars sold in January, a year-on-year rise of 11.5 percent and 7.6 percent respectively, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a report published Tuesday.

Passenger cars showed robust growth, with an output of 1.97 million and sales of 2.04 million, up 15.1 percent and 10.4 percent respectively.

Commercial cars failed to impress. In January, 281,600 commercial cars were sold, down 9 percent year on year. The CAAM attributed the decline to the faltering sales of vans.

The report showed that the market share of domestic brands improved for the sixth consecutive month.

Sales of passenger cars of domestic brands totaled 867,800 in January, up 21.45 percent year on year, accounting for 42.6 percent of all the passenger cars sold in the month.