China's auto sales rose 364.8 percent year on year to 1.455 million units in February, data from an industry association showed on Thursday. 

The huge growth was due to the sharp drop of sales during the same period last year and the country's recovering market demand this year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). 

In the first two months of 2021, auto sales totaled 3.958 million units, up 76.2 percent year on year. 

Last month, sales of passenger vehicles increased 410 percent year on year to 1.16 million units, while the figure for new energy vehicles (NEVs) surged 584.7 percent to 110,000 units. 

The production, sales and export of NEVs continued to set new records and maintain a relatively large scale last month, the CAAM said. 

The country will encourage steady increases in spending on home appliances, automobiles, and other big-ticket items, and abolish excessive restrictions on sales of second-hand vehicles, according to a government work report submitted to the national legislature for deliberation. 

The Ministry of Commerce has introduced fresh measures to boost auto sales, encouraging cities to optimize their restrictions on auto consumption and incentivize rural consumption of cars. 

With the stable recovery of the Chinese economy and positive effects brought by policies, the automobile industry will maintain steady growth momentum in the future, the CAAM predicted. 

The data also showed China produced more than 1.5 million motor vehicles in February, up 418.9 percent year on year.