Passenger car sales in China dropped 0.73 percent month on month to hit 1.61 million units in October, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Auto production shrank to 1.59 million vehicles in October, a decrease of 4.48 percent from September. The MPV-segment was hurt most with a drop of 7.4% in sales.

Year-on-year shows a better picture, sales up 5.3% and production up 1.1%

The ‘independent brands’ (Chery, Geely, etc) saw a 4.2% growth in sales compared with September and a hefty 17.5% year-on-year. The China-Japan island row is likely partially responsible for the ‘flight’ to Chinese-Chinese automobiles.

Via: CAAM.