Sales of imported vehicles in China showed a year-on-year drop for the second month in a row in November, placing even more pressure on dealers to decrease their inventories.

According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 79,800 vehicles in November, down 26.1 percent year-on-year. Of those, 78,756 were passenger vehicles, a number down 25.9 percent.

An inspector walks among imported vehicles at Shanghai's Waigaoqiao port. China imported 79,800 vehicles in November, down 26.1 percent year-on-year. Pei Xin / Xinhua

Even so, the country's imports still increased year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2012. During that period, China imported 1,017,529 vehicles, up 12.4 percent from the first 11 months of 2011.

Of the vehicles imported during the period, 996,511 were passenger vehicles, up 12.8 percent year-on-year, according to the administration.

During the past decade, vehicle imports had shown an average year-on-year increase of more than 30 percent, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Statistics show that 1.04 million imported vehicles were sold in 2011 in China. Of those, 1.01 million were passenger vehicles, up almost 30 percent year-on-year.

That rate of increase was 26 percentage points higher than that for domestic vehicles.

"The import industry is now entering a period of structural readjustments," said Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association.

"The slowdown will continue in the coming year, though, and vehicle imports will increase at a rate of more than 10 percent over the next two years," he said.

Luo attributed the expected increase to Chinese consumers' greater and more discerning demand for functional vehicles, as well as the broader selection of vehicle models that automakers are offering in the world's largest automobile market.

"Sport utility vehicles will be the chief driving force," Luo said.

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