SHANGHAI :China's auto sales surged 23.8 per cent in June from a year earlier, the first increase in four months after authorities cut taxes and offered subsidies to encourage car purchases as COVID-19 curbs eased.
June sales were up 34.4 per cent from May, with sales of new energy vehicles, among them electric, plug-in petrol-electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell versions, climbing 129.2 per cent from the previous year. In May and June, some local governments started to offer subsidies to consumers willing to trade in gasoline engine vehicles for electric cars. Some cities have also expanded quotas on car ownership.