Chinese consumers' enthusiasm for cars boosted auto sales in April, figures from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATRC) showed Tuesday.

Sales of domestically made vehicles (excluding exports) hit 1.39 million in April, up 9.8 percent from March and 40 percent from the same period last year, the CATRC statistics showed.

Domestic auto makers produced 1.52 million vehicles in April, down 9.82 percent from March but still up 35.18 percent compared with the same period of 2009.

"We expect auto sales to be good in May, driven by consumers' increased enthusiasm for car-buying, auto makers' promotional offers and the debut of dozens of new models at the Beijing Auto Show," said CATRC director Zhao Hang

Zhao said China's auto industry would continue to expand rapidly in 2010, thanks to an improving economy, rapid growth in fixed asset investment and government incentives designed to boost auto consumption.

The Chinese government introduced a series of tax cuts and subsidies to boost auto sales in 2009.

According to the CATRC statistics, the number of domestically made autos climbed 60.69 percent year on year to 5.86 million in the January to April period while sales (excluding exports) rose to 4.86 million.

The inventory of domestically made vehicles totaled about 1 million at the end of April.