China auto sales at new high

China's auto sales logged a new monthly record in January in a sign of robust demand in the world's biggest auto market, new data showed on Thursday.

Some 2.16 million cars were bought in China last month, a year-on-year rise of 5.99 percent, while output increased 4.44 percent to 2.05 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a report.

Passenger vehicle sales rose 7.03 percent year on year to 1.85 million units, driven mainly by demand for foreign cars as the market share of local brands dropped significantly.

Last month, sales of Chinese-brand passenger cars accounted for merely 38.41 percent of the total volume, down 4.35 percentage points from the share seen a month earlier, according to the CAAM.

Among foreign brands, Japanese cars suffered a slip in the Chinese market, taking up only 13.61 percent of the sales volume, whereas brands from Germany, the United States, the Republic of Korea and France all saw growth.

On the back of rapid urbanization and rising incomes, China has cemented its top position as the world's largest auto market in recent years. In 2013, vehicle sales in China rose 13.87 percent from a year earlier to 21.98 million units.