BEIJING, Sept. 8 -- China's passenger vehicle sales rose slightly in the first eight months of the year, industrial data showed Friday.

A total of 14.4 million passenger vehicles were sold in the first eight months of 2017, up 1.2 percent year on year, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Passenger vehicles sales grew 5.8 percent year on year to 1.9 million in August. Multi-purpose vehicles reported a 20.6-percent year-on-year drop in sales while sports utility vehicles grew 22.5 percent.

The association attributed the rise to the back-to-school shopping season in China and a stabilized economy.

Data from the CPCA showed China sold 54,000 new energy passenger cars last month, surging 25 percent month on month.

The robust growth came as China has intensified efforts to encourage the use of new energy vehicles to ease pressure on the environment by offering tax exemptions and discounts for car purchases and ordering government organizations to buy more new energy cars.

China has been the world's largest car market for eight consecutive years. About 28 million cars were sold in China in 2016, up 13.7 percent year on year thanks to preferential purchase policies and other government measures, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Last December, the Ministry of Finance continued its preferential car purchase taxation policy but reduced tax cuts for 2017.