Passenger car sales up 11.7% in Oct

China's passenger vehicle sales increased 11.7 percent year-on-year in October, indicating that the sharp sales decline of Japanese-branded vehicles due to the tensions over the Diaoyu Islands had little impact on the overall market.

Related: Japan carmakers to cut China production by half

Total sales, including cars, sports-utility vehicles, multi-purpose vehicles, and minivans, were at 1,249,307 units in October, up 0.3 percent from September. Sales in the first 10 months of the year were at 11.7 million, an increase of 5.9 percent year-on-year.

In October, the country produced 1,263,848 passenger vehicles, down 1.1 percent year-on-year.

"The sales of Japanese-branded vehicles dived 56.5 percent in October due to the Chinese consumers' anger against Japanese products," said Rao Da, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.

"However, the 11.7 percent growth in the passenger vehicle sector indicates that the shrinking sales of Japanese automakers did not have much influence in the overall market, as Chinese consumers shifted their focus to other brands," he added.

lifangfang@chinadaily.com.cn