China August passenger-car sales up 59.26% to 977,300 units

Shanghai September 2 (Gasgoo.com) China's passenger-car sales rebounded strongly in August, helped by government subsidies for energy-efficient vehicles and a stronger currency.

According to data released by the China Automotive Technology & Research Center, sales of the country's passenger vehicles reached 977,300 units last month, up 18.85% from July and 59.26% from a year earlier, of which sales of passenger cars with displacement of 1.6L and below increased 20.25% month on month and 56.34% year on year to 652,000 units.

In addition, the data show that the 132 fuel-efficient models, eligible for government subsidies, posted a sales growth of 32.04% m/m to 129,600 units, accounting for 19.88% of the total sales of passenger cars with displacement of 1.6L and below and 13.26% of the total passenger-car sales.

In August, China's auto output rose 10.15% from a year earlier to 1.20 million units while the auto sales gained 55.72% to 1.22 million units.

In the January-August period, auto output and auto sales in China totaled 10.9 million units and 9.46 million units, up 35.45% and 31.53%, respectively.