SHANGHAI, Jul 13 (SMM) – China’s production and sales of automobiles maintained solid growth last month, both hitting the highest on record for the month of June, according to industry data released Friday.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed that 2.33 million and 2.3 million automobiles were produced and sold, respectively, in China last month.

The production rose 6.3% from May to produce a year-over-year increase of 22.5%, faster than the annual growth of 18.2% in the previous month.

The sales were up 4.8% on the month and 11.6% on the year, compared with a year-over-year increase of 14.5% in May.

For the first six months of 2020, China’s car production fell 16.8% to 10.11 million units from the same period last year, while sales declined 16.9% to 10.26 million units.

NEV production and sales extended their declines

The CAAM, however, reported double-digit decreases in China’s production and sales of new energy vehicles for a sixth consecutive month in June.

China produced 102,000 NEVs last month, down 25% year on year, and the tally for January-to-June came in at 397,000 units, down 36.5% from the same period last year.

China’s NEV sales dropped 33.1% year on year to 104,000 units in June, larger than a 23.5% decline in May, bringing the tally for January-to-June to 393,000 units, down 37.4% from the same period last year.