China’s auto sales set a new monthly record in January with more than 1.66m cars sold – more than double the number sold in the same month last year, an industry association said on Tuesday.
Strong demand for new vehicles last year continued in January, with sales up 124% year on year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said on its website, according to AFP. The January sales also marked a 16.8% increase from December, it said. Auto sales topped 1.66m while output of new vehicles reached 1.61m, according to CAAM.
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Although the strong growth was partly due to last year’s weak January figures, steady economic growth combined with government sales incentives helped push auto sales to a new monthly record, CAAM said.
The previous monthly record was 1.4m cars sold in December 2009. Compared with December figures, auto sales and production grew 16.8% and 5.0% respectively in January. Passenger car sales were up 113.2% to 1.32m units last month, while production was 1.24m units, up 134% year on year.
Statistics from CAAM confirmed last month that China had overtaken the United States to become the world’s top auto maker and market in 2009. China’s sales for the year hit 13.64m units while production reached 13.79m units.
