Visitors try out a Volvo XC 40 model at the Shanghai auto show last year. The Swedish brand is the first to offer favorable policies to dealers amid the epidemic in China. (CAO YINGYING / CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING - China's October auto sales rose 12.5 percent year-on-year to 2.57 million as the market warmed alongside government policies to spur consumption, data from an industry association showed on Wednesday.

The rise marked the sixth consecutive month of double-digit year-on-year growth. Auto sales rose 0.1 percent on a monthly basis, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The rise marked the sixth consecutive month of double-digit year-on-year growth. Auto sales rose 0.1 percent on a monthly basis, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers

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Auto sales totaled 19.7 million in the first 10 months, down 4.7 percent year-on-year.

Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) in China posted robust growth in October, with about 160,000 units sold, up 104.5 percent year-on-year, according to the CAAM.

In the first 10 months, about 901,000 NEVs were sold, down 7.1 percent year-on-year.

Last week, China unveiled a development plan for its NEV industry in 2021-2035 that aims to accelerate the country into an automotive powerhouse.

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The plan, released by the State Council, China's cabinet, listed five strategic tasks -- to improve technology innovation capacity, build new-type industry ecosystems, advance industrial integration and development, perfect the infrastructure system and deepen opening-up and cooperation.

The data also showed China produced more than 2.55 million cars last month, up 11 percent year-on-year.