China Jan-May auto sales up 14% to 4.96M units

Sales of China's domestically made automobiles topped 4.96 million units in the January-May period, up 14.29 percent from a year earlier, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) Tuesday.

Both output and sales of domestically made automobiles in May exceeded 1.10 million units. It was the third month in a row that topped the million unit mark, said the CAAM.

The association attributed the increases to a series of government stimulus measures.

China's auto industry suffered in 2008 because of state macro control and the global downturn. Yearly output and sales grew 5.2 percent and 6.7 percent in 2008, the lowest growth in ten years, according to the CAAM.

China is expected to sell 10.2 million vehicles in 2009, up 8.7percent year on year, the CAAM said in April.