BEIJING — China saw a surge in sales of new-energy passenger vehicles in July, industry data showed.

The retail sales of new-energy passenger cars reached 222,000 units, up 169.4 percent year-on-year, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

The wholesale volume of new-energy passenger vehicles grew 202.9 percent year-on-year to reach 246,000 units.

BYD, Tesla China, SAIC-GM-Wuling, SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch and GAC Aion all sold more than 10,000 units of new-energy passenger vehicles last month.

In July, China's retail sales of passenger vehicles, including sedans, sport-utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles, dropped 6.2 percent year-on-year to 1.5 million units.