BEIJING, Aug. 20 -- Sales of Chinese-brand passenger vehicles soared 20.4 percent year on year in the first seven months of this year, industry data showed.

About 7.19 million domestic-brand passenger vehicles were sold in China during the period, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The market share of such vehicles stood at 53.8 percent in the Chinese market, up 6.1 percentage points from the same period in 2022.

In July alone, sales of domestic auto brands climbed 11.4 percent year on year to top 1.2 million units.

The sales made up 57.2 percent of the country's total passenger-car sales last month, up 7.6 percentage points year on year.