China auto sales reach 1.2 million in February

(AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN)

China's auto sales reached 1.2 million units in February, up sharply compared with the same month a year ago but below the monthly record set in January, an industry association said.

Demand for new vehicles in the world's biggest market pushed sales up 46 percent in February from the same period a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced.

But the figure marked a 27 percent decline from January, it said, when a record 1.66 million cars were sold.

Sales may have fallen off in February due to the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which was in January last year.

Year-on-year passenger car sales were up 55 percent last month, CAAM said, without providing actual volume.

Those with 1.6 litre engines or smaller accounted for 72 percent of total passenger car sales due to government incentives such as lower taxes, CAAM added.

Statistics from CAAM confirmed in January that China had overtaken the United States to become the world's top auto maker and market in 2009.

China's sales for the year hit 13.64 million units while production reached 13.79 million units.

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