China's passenger car sales drop in November

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's passenger vehicle market shrank in November with a drop in retail sales, industrial data showed on Thursday.

Nearly 1.65 million passenger cars were sold via retail channels in November, down 9.2 percent year on year, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

From January to November, 18.37 million passenger cars were sold, up 1.8 percent year on year. Passenger car exports reached 2.1 million units, up 56 percent from a year earlier.

A car purchase tax cut policy has contributed greatly to vehicle sales since its launch in June, the association said.

The policy slashed the purchase tax in half for passenger cars under 300,000 yuan (about 43,103 U.S. dollars) with engine displacement below 2 liters purchased between June 1 and Dec. 31 this year.

The tax, which is usually 10 percent of a vehicle's sticker price, has now been cut to 5 percent.