China auto sales growth to slow to 15% this year

China's vehicle sales growth may slow to 15 percent this year from more than 40 percent in 2009, said Miao Wei, vice minister of industry and information technology.

The "cautiously optimistic" forecast comes after economic stimulus measures helped the nation sell more than 13 million cars and trucks last year, Miao said at a conference in Beijing.

China increased the tax on vehicles with engines of 1.6 liters or smaller this year after halving the levy in 2009. Sales of that size of car accounted for some 85 percent of the growth in the overall vehicle market, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

SAIC Motor Corp., China's biggest automaker, has tumbled 12 percent this year, the worst performer on the 903-member Shanghai Composite Index. The stock more than quadrupled in 2009, outstripping the benchmark gauge's 80 percent advance. The carmaker has forecast an increase of less than 15 percent in industrywide sales this year.