China’s passenger vehicle sales exceeded 21.5 million units in 2015, up 7.3% on a year-on-year basis, topping 20 million for the first time, a new world record, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

 

China’s vehicles production volume and sales reached 24.5 million and 24.6 million units in 2015, growths of respectively 3.25% and 4.68% year on year, including 21.1 million passenger vehicles, in the light of the official statistics released by CAAM on Tuesday.

 

Boosted by strong rigid demand and purchase tax alleviation for vehicles of smaller displacement of 1.6L, passenger vehicle production and sales bottomed out in last September and soared 18.27% on a year-on-year basis to 2.4 million in last December. Therefore, models of or less than 1.6L displacement accounted for 68.6% of the overall passenger vehicle sales in 2015, reaching 14.5 million units.

 

It was the seventh time in a row that China’s annual vehicle sales had topped other countries or regions in the world, setting a new record of 24.6 million units. Yet, it’s also the third time that the country didn’t enjoy faster growth than a previous year in vehicle production and sales.