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Beijing - Auto sales in China, the world's biggest car market, reached 11.68 million vehicles in the first half of 2014, an industry group said Wednesday, up 8.4% on last year.
In June alone, sales rose 5.2% year-on-year to 1.85 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement, down from May's 8.5% increase.
For passenger cars alone, total sales rose 11.2% on the year to 9.63 million in the first half and 11.5% to 1.56 million in June, the association said.
China has become critically important to foreign carmakers, given the size of the market and weak sales elsewhere in the world.
Full-year auto sales in the country reached 21.98 million vehicles last year, when a recovery in Japanese brands offset the impact of slowing economic growth.
US auto firm General Motors said this week that it registered record Chinese sales during the first half and in June.
Its sales in China in the first six months of 2014 increased 10.5 percent from the same period last year to 1.73 million units, according to a statement. GM's China sales rose 9.1% to 257 798 units in June.
"We anticipate sales remaining strong through the end of 2014, as more people - particularly outside China's major cities - become first-time vehicle buyers," GM China president Matt Tsien said in the statement.
China sales of another US automaker, Ford, reached 549 256 vehicles in the first half, up 35% from the same period last year. In June, Ford's China sales increased 17% to 87 783 vehicles, it said in a statement.
