China's automobile sales surged by 26.71 percent in the first half of the year to attain 3.53 million units, according to figures unconfined Friday by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The output of automobiles posted an even stronger increase of 28.94 percent in the first six months to 3.63 million units.

The production and sales of sedans ascend by 50.26 percent and 46.9 percent, respectively.

The country formed 2.59 million passenger vehicles between January and June, up 40.3 percent year on year.

The sales of passenger automobiles rose 36.53 percent to reach 2.51 million units.

The output of commercial automobiles went up by 7.16 percent to reach 1.03 million units, while sales gained 7.71 percent to reach 1.02 million units.

Industrial forecaster said the growth might slow down in the second half of the year, as stocks of some manufacturers are building up.

They approximation that the growth rates of both production and sales for the whole year might stand around 20 percent, with production probable to hit 6.8 million units, an augment of 1 million units over 2005.