China’s auto sales jumped 55.7 percent year on year in August, boosted by Beijing’s new subsidies scheme for energy-saving vehicles, state media said on Thursday.
Sales in the world’s largest auto market rose to 1.22 million units in August, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing figures from the China Automotive Technology and Research Centre.
The figures were 15.1 percent higher than July and the growth was likely to continue into September, the report said.
On Thursday, US auto giant General Motors said its sales in China grew 19.2 percent in August from a year earlier to 181,625 units.
“August auto sales exceeded market expectations, indicating obvious improvement in the fundamentals of the industry,” Zheng Dong, an auto analyst at China International Capital Corp, said in a research note.
He noted that purchases were partially boosted by discounts offered by car dealers to spur turnover.
He said more buyers could drop their wait-and-see stance and cause sales to “explode” in the typically brisk months of September and October.
