AUTOMOBILE sales grew strongly in the first half of the year, despite China's lackluster economic performance, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturing yesterday.

Sales grew by 12.34 percent year on year to 10.78 million units, 9.41 percentage points more than the same period last year. Output grew 12.83 percent to 10.75 million units, 8.75 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

About 8.67 million sedans were sold nationwide during the January-June period, up 13.81 percent annually, while sales of commercial vehicles rose 6.68 percent to 2.12 million units.