China's domestic auto market got over a downturn in November by selling 393,600 passenger vehicles, a remarkable surge of 23 percent over October, show statistics from China Automotive Industry Association (CAIA).

The CAIA said the booming sales in November have pushed the 11-month total to 3.5 million units, increasing 20 percent over the same period of last year.

Many China-based auto companies had a hard time this year due to overstock and difficulties in collecting money from debit customers.

The profits of China's car industry saw a 52.9 percent drop in the first three quarters this year, 13.5 percentage points less than the first half, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The CAIA said the market is heading toward hot sales as the end of year approaches. China sold 285,700 sedan cars in November, up 20.4 percent from October, and the sales of sports utility vehicles (SUV) also increased 1.14 percent to 16,400 units. Meanwhile, the sales of multipurpose passenger vehicles (MPV) stood at 13,700 units in the month, dropping 1.16 percent.

According to the CAIA, the top five sedan enterprises in terms of sales in November are Faw-Volkswagen (31,700 units), Shanghai GM (30,300 units), Shanghai Volkswagen (30,100 units), Beijing Hyundai (19,200 units) and Faw-Toyota (18,400 units).

The five enterprises reported a total sale of 129,700 units in the month, accounting for 45.4 percent of the total sedan sales of the country.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2005)