China's auto sales pick up

BEIJING - China's auto industry is gradually stabilizing on increasing sales and output, new data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed Saturday.

Total auto sales, including passenger cars and commercial vehicles, rose 1.7 percent year-on-year to 8.02 million units during the first five months of 2012, while output rose 3.19 percent to 8 million units, the CAAM said.

In May alone, China's auto sales and output increased 15.97 percent and 16.19 percent, respectively, to 1.61 million units and 1.57 million units.

Some 6.33 million passenger cars were sold during the January-May period, up 5.48 percent year on year, the CAAM said.

But sales of commercial vehicles continued to drop, down 10.31 percent from a year earlier to 1.69 million units in the first five months.

Yao Jie, vice-secretary general of the CAAM, said the new data showed the industry is obviously stabilizing after posting a significant slowdown in the first few months of the year as a result of the lackluster economy, the removal of subsidies and tighter rules on new car registration.