(Yicai) Nov. 12 -- New energy vehicles accounted for more than half of the new cars sold in China last month for the first time ever.

NEV sales surged 20 percent to 1.72 million units in October from a year ago, making up nearly 52 percent of all new autos sold in the month, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers yesterday. Total vehicle sales rose 8.8 percent to 3.32 million.

Car production rose 12 percent to 3.36 million, with NEV output soaring 21 percent to 1.77 million, accounting for nearly 53 percent of the total, the data also showed.

Auto exports jumped 23 percent to about 666,000, remaining above the 600,000 level for the third straight month. NEV exports almost doubled to 256,000.

Chery Automobile ranked first among Chinese carmakers, with exports of 126,000, up 13 percent and accounting for 19 percent of all exports. BYD’s exports surged 1.8-fold to 84,000.

“The auto market continued to show robust growth momentum in October, with production running at a brisk pace as automakers seized the year-end policy window,” said Chen Shihua, the CAAM’s deputy secretary-general. New model launches, steady policy implementation, and stronger exports helped the market set new monthly records, he added.

In the first 10 months, China produced and sold 27.69 million cars, representing year-on-year increases of 13 percent and 12 percent, respectively, according to the data. NEV production and sales both climbed 33 percent to 13.02 million and 12.94 million.

Output and sales are likely to exceed 34 million this year, a new record, Chen predicted. Boosting consumption will remain a key policy focus for the 15th Five-Year Plan for next year through 2030, he noted, calling for further optimization of the vehicle trade-in policy to stabilize expectations and support steady growth.

Editor: Futura Costaglione