Sales of imported vehicles in China rose 16.8% year on year to 1.21m units in 2017, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.
The association said deliveries of imported vehicles to authorised dealers rose 0.6% to 904,000 units.
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According to the association, sales of vehicles imported by unauthorised dealers, aka parallel imports, jumped by close to 30% to 172,000 units of which 88% were SUVs. These are often imported from other countries and mostly include premium brands and/or models.
New energy vehicles accounted for 22,300 of total imports, up by more than 38%.
Government sources last month indicated China is looking to cut import tariffs on fully assembled vehicles from the current 25% as it looks to address its huge trade surplus with the world's major economies.
This means that imports will only increase in the future, particularly at the premium end of the market, unless other restrictions are introduced.
