Sales of passenger cars in China last month saw a sharp rise from a year earlier thanks to rising demand ahead of the Spring Festival and pro-consumption measures from local governments, an industry association has said. 

Retail sales of passenger vehicles, including sedans, sport-utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles, climbed 25.7 percent year-on-year to 2.16 million units in January, data from the China Passenger Car Association shows. 

The figure fell 5.6 percent on a monthly basis, said the association. 

The wholesale volume of new-energy passenger vehicles registered solid growth last month, soaring 290.6 percent year-on-year to about 168,000 units. 

Sales of plug-in hybrid cars surged 173 percent year on year to about 27,000 units last month, and sales of purely electric vehicles stood at about 141,000 units, rocketing 325.8 percent from a year ago. 

The association expects the country's auto market to resume growth in 2021, considering the accelerating recovery of automobile demand, steady economic growth and the great potential of the country's auto market.