China's passenger vehicle market recorded robust growth in July with rising sales and production, industrial data showed on Tuesday.

Some 1.82 million passenger cars were sold via retail channels in July, up 20.4 percent year on year, posting a relatively high growth compared with that in the past decade, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.

Production of China's passenger vehicles amounted to 2.16 million units in July, surging 41.6 percent year on year.

The improving logistics and supply chains, increased business activity, the country's raft of pro-consumption measures, among other factors, all contributed to the auto market expansion, the association said.

China in late May announced it would halve the car purchase tax for passenger vehicles priced at no more than 300,000 yuan (about $44,389) and with 2-liter engines or smaller. The tax cut will last from June 1 to the end of the year.

Major auto companies also stepped up their promotional activities in July to counter the setbacks suffered earlier this year due to COVID-19 flare-ups, in order to meet their annual goals, according to the association.

And what's very striking is that sales of electric cars accounted for 26.4% of the total in July. The association now expects electric car sales for the whole year could reach 6 million units, higher than an earlier estimate of 5.5 million.

Compared with international carmakers based in China, local Chinese companies were among the first-movers in the NEV segment, including electric cars, so they are quicker to adopt new technologies and launch new models. So far among the 15 most popular NEV carmakers in China, only 3 are international brands, all top 10 are Chinese.

(With input from Xinhua and cover via CFP)