Auto sales soar in China

BEIJING, July 9 (UPI) -- The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said auto sales continued at a brisk pace in June with sales outpacing production for the year.

In January through June, China produced 5.99 million cars, up 15.22 percent from a year ago, Xinhua reported Thursday.

In the same six months, vehicle sales hit 6.09 million, the trade association said.

In June, sales were 36.5 percent higher than the same month of 2008. For the fourth consecutive month, sales topped 1.1 million in June with the sale of 1.14 million.units.

The bump in sales is being pushed, in part, by a 50 percent break in sales tax the government enacted in January, which cut sales tax on smaller cars to 5 percent.

Sales of passenger cars with engines smaller than 1.6 liters of displacement rose more than 25 percent in the first half of the year to 4.53 million vehicles, comparing sales to the first half of 2008, CAAM said.