China's January new energy vehicle (NEV) sales rose 238.5 percent year-over-year to 179,000 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Data released by the CAAM last month showed that 248,000 new energy vehicles were sold in December 2020, meaning the January figure was down 27.82 percent compared to December.

In January 2021, China's auto industry produced and sold 2.388 million and 2.503 million units, down 15.9% and 11.6% respectively from December, and up 34.6% and 29.5% respectively year-on-year.

Of these, passenger car sales in January 2021 were 2.045 million units, an increase of 26.8%.

The CAAM said that January's vehicle production and sales showed a significant year-over-year increase because current market demand is still recovering. Also, the Chinese New Year holiday in January 2020 and the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak early last year led to a low base level.

From the comparison with December, the faster rate of production decline reflects the lack of automotive chip supply affects the pace of production of enterprises, the CAAM said.