China's imports of foreign cars nearly doubled last year, with Japanese and German models most in favor among buyers looking to upgrade their vehicles, an industry association said Tuesday.

The quasi-official China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said car imports jumped 93 percent last year from 2009 to 813,600 vehicles. By value, imports doubled to US$30.64 billion, while China's vehicle exports rose 40 percent from a year earlier to a record US$51.8 billion.

An explosion in demand and sluggish sales in the recession-stricken West helped China overtake the US as the largest car market by sales of new vehicles in 2009. Last year, sales of passenger cars, excluding large buses, jumped by a third to 13.7 million vehicles.

While domestic-made models of foreign joint ventures dominate the market, demand for higher-quality imports remains strong.

Imports of SUVs led the market at 351,400 vehicles, up 69 percent from 2009, while imports of sedans more than doubled to 343,700, the report said.

Despite a spate of safety-related recalls by Japanese makers, imports from Japan took the largest share, followed by Germany, South Korea and the United States.

China's auto exports are mainly buses, trucks and knockdown kits which are assembled in developing countries.

So far, exports of made-in-China vehicles, especially by foreign joint ventures, have been limited.