China auto sales rise 11.6% in June, up for third straight month

China's auto sales in June rose 11.6% from a year earlier, industry data showed on Friday, up for a third consecutive month as the world's biggest vehicle market comes off lows hit during coronavirus lockdowns.

The increase follows a rise of 14.5% in May and 4.4% in April, before which sales had languished in a nearly two-year slump.

Sales in June rose to 2.3 million vehicles, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the country's largest auto industry body.

Sales of commercial vehicles, which include trucks, vans and buses, outpaced the overall auto market with a 63.1% jump in sales to 536,000 units in June.

In June, sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) fell for the twelfth straight month, to 104,000 units. NEVs include battery-powered electric, plug-in petrol-electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

Automakers such as Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, Great Wall Motor, Tesla Inc and Ford Motor Co reported positive China sales in June.

China's auto sales are expected to fall by 10%-20% this year, from over 25 million units sold in 2019, CAAM said last month.

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Himani Sarkar)