BEIJING, Sept. 5 -- China's auto production and sales rose 7.4 percent and 7.9 percent year on year, respectively, in the first seven months of this year, posting steady growth, according to an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, MIIT official Wang Weiming said China is striving to increase its annual automobile sales by 3 percent to 27 million in 2023.

Wang added that it is necessary to strengthen departmental coordination and create policy synergy to stabilize and expand the consumption of new energy vehicles and petrol vehicles.

However, growth challenges persist in the auto industry, with mounting global uncertainties and the continued triple pressure of domestic demand contraction, supply shocks and weakening expectations, the official noted, adding that the task of stabilizing the growth of the industry is arduous.

China's industrial authorities on Saturday unveiled a plan to maintain stable growth of the country's machinery industry in 2023-2024. The plan, jointly released by the MIIT and six other government departments, mainly focuses on 11 sectors, including machine tools, agricultural machinery and construction machinery.

China expects the industry's operating revenue to reach 8.1 trillion yuan (about 1.13 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2024, according to the plan.

Efforts will be made to expand demand, promote the intelligent transformation of manufacturing, improve the quality of supply and make policy implementation more targeted, the plan stated.