Auto sales up 25% in February

Vehicle sales in China surged 25 percent in February, the first gain in four months, after the government cut taxes on some models, helping the country extend its lead as the world's largest automobile market this year.

Sales of passenger cars, buses and trucks climbed to 827,600, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said yesterday. The tally in the first two months rose 2.7 percent to 1.56 million, compared with a 39 percent decline to 1.35 million in the US.

China has halved retail taxes on small cars and drawn up plans to give out vehicle subsidies in rural areas to revive demand after automobile sales rose at the slowest pace in a decade last year.