China’s automobile sales rose 19.19 percent month-on-month to about 1.65 million units in September, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said Thursday. Automobile output reached 1.60 million units last month, up 15 percent from August, the CAAM said in a statement.

The September figure took the auto sales in the first nine months to 13.63 million units, up 3.62 percent year-on-year. Auto output in the period grew 2.75 percent to 13.46 million units, the statement said.

Sales of passenger cars reached 1.32 million units in September, up 20.5 percent from August and up 8.8 percent from a year earlier.

Passenger vehicle sales in the first nine months totaled 10.5 million units, up 6.4 percent from a year earlier.

Xiong Chuanlin, assistant secretary-general of CAAM, said the increase of passenger car sales reflected the strong fundamental demand in the Chinese market.

Automakers have been making efforts to reduce their inventories after the government ended incentive programs and imposed new limits on car purchases at the beginning of the year. To encourage automakers to increase green-technology investment and reduce oil consumption, the government introduced stricter measures over the fuel-efficient vehicle subsidy program, effective as of Oct. 1.

The new policy has also accelerated production and sales of small-displacement vehicles in September, Xiong said.

CAAM secretary-general Dong Yang forecast last month that China’s auto sales will grow by 3 percent to 5 percent from a year earlier to exceed 18.6 million units this year.

Via: CRI.