Passenger car sales in China, the world's largest auto market, continued in a slow growth mode in August, despite minor improvements from the previous month, according to industry data released on Monday.
Sales of passenger cars grew 4.1 percent year-on-year to about 1.86 million, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed. Sales grew 4.3 percent in July.
However, August sales reversed a declining trend on a monthly basis. Sales grew 11.7 percent in August compared with July, according to the CAAM.
Sales of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and new-energy vehicles (NEVs) remained strong, with SUV sales up 17.1 percent year-on-year to about 775,200 and NEV sales jumping 76.3 percent to 68,000 units, according to the CAAM.
Domestic brands continued to increase their market share. Chinese car brand sales rose 5.9 percent year-on-year to 769,000 units, accounting for 41 percent of the total and rising 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier, the CAAM said.
Chen Shihua, an official with the CAAM, was quoted as saying that car sales will face tougher pressure going forward and "there is no reason to expect that passenger car sales will see significant improvement for the remainder of this year."
