China's passenger car sales in August increased 59.26 percent from one year earlier to 977,300 units, the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATRC) said Wednesday.

The growth rate was 43.83 percentage points higher compared with that in July, the Tianjin-based CATRC said.

China's auto sales, including those of passenger cars and commercial vehicles such as vans, lorries and tractors, totaled 9.46 million units in the first eight months of this year, up 31.53 percent year on year, it said.

Auto production in China, the world's largest auto market, rose 35.45 percent from a year earlier to 10.91 million units in the January-August period, it said.

The average time cars took to sell once off the production line fell to 57 days last month from 58 days in July, the center said.

CATRC director Zhao Hang attributed the strong sales in August to high consumer demand due to the introduction of new models and better sales promotions.

Zhao expected China's passenger car sales to maintain a good performance in September.