China's July passenger vehicle sales dipped 16 percent from the previous month, an industry association said yesterday.

Combined sales of domestically made passenger vehicles cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) and mini vans stood at 332,600 units in July, down 16.11 percent from June, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

"The decline is a normal seasonal adjustment in the industry," Zhu Yiping, the spokeswoman for the Beijing-based auto association told China Daily.

"It could also be attributed to consumers' wait-and-see attitude because of new offers and price incentives launched by automakers," Zhu said.

MPV sales posted the biggest plunge among the four types of passenger vehicles last month, the industry association said.

Compared to June, last month's MPV sales dropped 38.74 percent to 10,900 units.

However, the auto association said that July sales of passenger vehicles gained 5.39 percent year-on-year, mainly boosted by strong car sales.

Car sales reached 263,900 units last month, up 11.91 percent year-on-year, but they fell 12.21 percent compared to the previous month.

July sales of MPVs, SUVs and mini vans all fell from June.

Compared to the same period last year, auto sales enjoyed healthy growth in the first seven months of 2006.

Statistics showed combined sales of passenger vehicles jumped 32.14 percent year-on-year to 2.85 million units from January to July.

Meanwhile, car sales surged 41.52 percent to 2.07 million units, representing the biggest growth among the four types of vehicles.

Chinese brands continued to perform well in the period.

The Xiali subcompact car made by Toyota's partner Tianjin First Automotive Works Corp (FAW), and the QQ micro car and Qiyun compact car from independent carmaker Chery Automobile Co Ltd, remained on the list of China's 10 best-selling brands.

Xiali was in first place, selling 103,100 vehicles from January to June.

Meanwhile, Chery, based in East China's Anhui Province, sold a total of 159,600 vehicles, including 72,300 QQs and 58,200 Qiyuns.

The sales enabled Chery to remain China's fourth-biggest producer of passenger vehicles after three Sino-foreign joint ventures Shanghai General Motors, Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW Volkswagen.

(China Daily August 9, 2006)