1st LD-Writethru: China auto sales up 14.6 pct in June

Auto sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, surged 14.6 percent year on year to 2.07 million vehicles in June, data from an industry association showed Monday.

Sales of passenger cars rose by 17.7 percent year on year to 1.78 million in June, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The country produced nearly 2.05 million vehicles last month, up 10.45 percent year on year, the association said in an online statement.

In the first half, auto output and sales rose 6.47 percent and 8.14 percent year on year to 12.89 million and 12.83 million units.

New energy vehicles remained popular among Chinese consumers, with sales more than doubling year on year to 44,000 vehicles last month.

The first six months saw 170,000 new energy vehicles sold.

Yao Jie, deputy secretary of CAAM, said the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market will continue in the second half, and he forecast sales to reach nearly 700,000 for the whole of 2016.

Chinese auto sales growth peaked at 45 percent in 2009 and has fallen steadily as cities try to control smog and congestion by limiting new vehicles on the roads.

Automakers sold 24.6 million vehicles in China in 2015, up 4.7 percent. This marks the smallest increase in three years, following increases of 6.9 percent and 13.9 percent in 2014 and 2013. Endi