China November auto sales up 2.3%

People walk past a row of Volkswagen e-Golf cars during the company's annual news conference in Berlin March 13, 2014. [Photo / Agencies]

BEIJING - China's auto sales continued to slow in November as both passenger and commercial car sales remained subdued.

Approximately 2.09 million cars were sold in China last month, a year-on-year rise of 2.3 percent, slowing from the 2.8 percent gain seen a month earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a report published Wednesday.

Vehicle output stood at 2.16 million units in the month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

In the first 11 months, auto sales totalled 21.1 million units, up 6.1 percent from the same period last year. But the growth marked a sharp slowdown from the rate seen a year earlier.

"The downward trend in auto sales is likely to last in the short term," said CAAM deputy head Dong Yang.

Breaking the numbers down, China sold 1.78 million passenger cars in November, up 4.66 percent year on year, while sales of commercial cars came in at 315,600, down 9.24 percent from the same period last year.

Notably, the share of domestic brands slightly improved, accounting for 40.9 percent of the November sales. German and Japanese cars continued to lead the market, with 304,700 and 288,600 units sold during the month.