China's auto sales in January rose 0.9% year on year to 2.53 million units, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed Friday.

A NIO ES8 electric SUV is displayed at the 19th International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Auto Shanghai 2021) in Shanghai, east China, April 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Fei)

Monthly, the sales declined by 9.2%, showed the data.

Last month's auto production rose 1.4% year on year to 2.42 million units.

Sales of passenger vehicles in January went up 6.7% year on year to 2.19 million units.

January's auto production and sales remained stable as China's economy continued its recovery momentum. Passenger vehicles posted better-than-expected performance thanks to slight mitigation of automobile chip supply and preferential policies.

Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) kept improving in January, surging 140% from the same period last year to about 431,000 units, the CAAM data showed.

China aims to raise the proportion of NEVs in its sales of new vehicles to 20% by 2025, according to a development plan for China's NEV industry released in 2020.

Last year, China's auto sales rose 3.8% year on year to 26.28 million units, ending a downward trend that began in 2018.