China auto sales hit monthly record high?

Beijing: Automobile sales and output in China both hit record highs in November as demand continued to soar after the government halved vehicle purchase tax in the world's largest auto market, industry data showed on Thursday.

China achieved its highest ever auto sales numbers in November, selling as many as 2.51 million vehicles, up 20.0 percent from a year ago, while output rose 17.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.54 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a statement.

For the first 11 months of the year, 21.8 million vehicles were sold, up 3.3 percent year on year.

Production was about the same level, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Passenger car sales grew rapidly in November, while Chinese-branded passenger cars took a larger share of the market with sales soaring 26.9 percent year on year, the CAAM said.

The automobile market cooled in the early months of 2015 as a result of the economic slowdown, fierce competition and purchase limit policies in first-tier cities in world's second-largest economy.

But both sales and output rebounded in October due to reduced purchase taxes.

China's vehicle-purchase tax was halved from 10 percent to 5 percent for low-emission passenger vehicles, effective from October 1, to December 31.