MOSCOW, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Russia's car factories produced 49,600 passenger cars in August, twice as many as in the same month last year, when Western sanctions were pummelling Russia's auto industry, state statistics agency Rosstat said on Wednesday.

In the January-August period, car output was down 9.6% year-on-year, it said. (Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov Editing by Gareth Jones)