The latest data was revised upward from the CPCA's previous estimate of 620,000 units.

China's retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles (NEVs) totaled 647,000 units in July, up 33 percent year-on-year but down 3 percent from June, preliminary data released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed.

On July 25, the CPCA estimated that China's retail sales of passenger NEVs in July would be around 620,000 units. The latest preliminary data has been revised upward from the previous estimate.

From January to July, China's retail sales of passenger NEVs stood at 3.733 million units, up 37 percent year-on-year, according to the CPCA.

China's wholesale sales of passenger NEVs in July were 755,000 units, up 34 percent year-on-year but down 1 percent from the previous month.

In the January-July period, wholesale sales of passenger NEVs in China amounted to 4,299,000 units, up 42 percent year-on-year.

Retail sales of all passenger cars in China in July were 1.734 million units, down 5 percent year-on-year and down 8 percent from June, according to the CPCA.

This means that the penetration rate of passenger NEVs at retail was 37.31 percent in July, up from 35.1 percent in June.

Retail sales of all passenger vehicles in China from January to July amounted to 11.259 million units, up 1 percent year-on-year.

Wholesale sales of passenger cars in China in July were 2.017 million units, down 6 percent year-on-year and down 10 percent from June.

In the January-July period, China's passenger car wholesale sales were 13.085 million units, up 6 percent year-on-year.

The following is the weekly retail performance of China's passenger car market in July, as announced by the CPCA today:

In the first week of July, from July 1 to July 9, average daily retail sales of passenger cars in China were 37,000 units, down 7 percent from a year ago and down 2 percent from the same period last month.

In the second week of July, from July 10 to July 16, China's average daily retail sales of passenger cars were 51,000 units, up 7 percent year-on-year and down 5 percent from the same period last month.

In the third week of July, from July 17 to July 23, daily average retail sales of passenger cars in China were 62,000 units, up 5 percent year-on-year and down 11 percent from the same period last month.

In the fourth week of July, from July 24 to July 31, China's average daily retail sales of passenger cars were 77,000 units, down 16 percent year-on-year and down 22 percent from the same period last month.

In July last year, the policy of halving the purchase tax on fuel vehicles boosted sales at that time, while this year is a normal sales time, so the year-on-year decline at the beginning of the month is normal, the CPCA said.

In addition, July is traditionally a slow season for the auto market, with hot weather hampering consumers from visiting stores to some extent, according to the CPCA.

Notably, local government stimulus remains strong and consumers are less on the sidelines, the CPCA said.

Data table: China auto sales in Jul 1-31