New vehicle sales in China expanded by 13.7% to 28.03m units last year, up from 24.6m in 2015, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Helping to drive the market higher last year was a 50% sales tax discount on cars with engines up to 1.6 litres, from 10% to 5%, introduced in October 2015. Buyers rushed into the market in the final months of 2016 ahead of an anticipated tax rise to 7.5% at the beginning of 2017.

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Sales in December rose by over 18% to 3.13m units, after a 17% rise to 2.96m units in November.

Passenger vehicle sales last year rose by 15.9% to 23.9m units in 2016, according to separate data released earlier this week by the China Passenger Car Association. Sales of cars with engines up to 1.6 litres increased by over 21% last year to account for around 70% of all passenger vehicle sales in the country.

Volkswagen’s joint ventures delivered 3.98m vehicles in Hong Kong and mainland China last year, up by over 12% compared with 3.55m units in 2015. Last year’s sales included 1.9m units by the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture and close to 2.1m units by Shanghai-Volkswagen.

Audi’s sales were 3.7% higher at 589,100 units, including 539,000 assembled locally in China. Separately, FAW group reported total sales increased by 9.2% to 3.1m units last year, including those of FAW-Volkswagen.

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General Motors’ joint ventures reported a 7.1% sales rise to 3.87m units last year, while Ford’s sales were 14% higher at 1.27m units. 

Vehicle sales by Honda rose by 24% to 1.25m in 2016, helped by its strong SUV line-up, while Toyota’s sales were just 8.2% higher at 1.2m units.