(Yicai) Aug. 9 -- July, which is typically a slow sales month, logged the second-highest number of monthly passenger cars sales in China in the first seven months, which is an indication that the country’s auto market is becoming more mature, an industry body said.

Some 1.78 million autos were shipped in China last month, a dip of 2.3 percent from a year ago and a drop of 6.3 percent from June, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association yesterday. In the seven months ended July 31, passenger car sales climbed 1.9 percent to 11.3 million units.

In the past, sales fluctuated intensely as they were driven by first-time buyers, the association said. But in future, sales might grow smoothly month by month, similar to the US and Europe, as more existing car owners replace their autos.

Sales of new energy vehicles jumped 31 percent in July from a year earlier to 641,000 autos, it said. Electric cars accounted for 36.1 percent of all vehicles sold, up from 26.8 percent a year ago. And in the first seven months, NEV sales surged 36.3 percent year on year to 3.73 million units.

Chinese brands accounted for just over half of the sales in July at 940,000 autos, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent. While sales of joint-venture marques plunged 28 percent to 590,000 units and that of luxury cars sank 22 percent to 240,000 autos.

Overall, the price war that greatly upset the market in the first half has come to an end, but some car firms will continue to make special offers, the association said.

There is unlikely to be a new round of the price war in the second half, said Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the CPCA. Many big carmakers, such as Volkswagen and Neta, have already launched promotional campaigns. And those rolled out by NEV manufacturers are small and temporary in nature and are unlikely to have a big effect on overall pricing.

The CPCA kept its sales forecasts for the full year unchanged at 21 million passenger cars and 8.5 million electric passenger cars.

Editor: Kim Taylor