Auto sales in China grew at the slowest pace in three years in 2015 as demand fell in the world's largest car market, data from an industry association showed on Tuesday.
About 24.59 million automobiles were sold in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 4.7 percent, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
The growth followed a 6.9-percent rise in 2014 and a 13.9-percent gain in 2013.
More encouraging for Chinese carmakers was the fact that 21.1 million passenger vehicles were sold in 2015, rising 7.3 percent year on year.
CAAM deputy director Dong Yang attributed that to robust growth in the fourth quarter. In December alone, sales of passenger vehicles surged 18.3 percent to 2.4 million.
"This showed there is still real demand in China's motor vehicle market," Dong said.
The CAAM predicted auto sales will expand 6 percent to 26.04 million this year.
New-energy vehicles continued to gain popularity. The number sold in 2015 more than tripled year on year to 331,100, partly due to government incentives to encourage their use.
In October, China started allowing buyers of new-energy vehicles to get license plates without having to apply through the usual lottery system.
The CAAM expects 700,000 new-energy vehicles to be sold in 2016.
