BEIJING, June 17 -- In May, sales of China's passenger vehicles with 1.6-liter engine and below decreased 4.14% from April to 706,700 units, according to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufactures.

Last month, sales of passenger cars with 1.6-liter engine and below accounted for 67.74% of the country's total, 4.4 percentage points lower than that of the same period of last year.

In the period from January to May, the low-emission vehicle sales accounted for 69.20% of the country's total, down 2.04 percentage points from the same period of last year.

The Chinese government said on Jun. 1 that it will offer nationwide subsidies of RMB 3,000 for each buyer of cars with 1.6-litre and below. 'We are concerned about the sales downturn of low-emission vehicles. We hope that the new policy could turn the tide." said Dong Yang, secretary general of the association.