China's second-hand auto sales up 22% in 2009

Second-hand auto sales in China climbed 22 percent last year to 3.34 million units, the China Automobile Dealers Association said last Friday.

The sales were valued at 148.8 billion yuan (21.8 billion), up 25.9 percent from a year earlier, the association said in a statement.

Private vehicles accounted for 85.3 percent of the total and sedans accounted for 53.8 percent, the statement said. It added that truck sales surged 44 percent.

New auto sales posted a stronger growth last year in China, the only bright spot as the world auto industry struggled with the economic downturn, thanks to rural subsidies and tax cuts on purchases of smaller vehicles.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced on Jan. 11 that new auto sales rose 46.15 percent year on year to 13.64 million units in 2009, helping the country overtake the US as the world's largest auto market.