BEIJING - China's passenger vehicle sales posted faster growth in January, data from an industrial association showed Thursday.

About 2.27 million passenger vehicles were sold last month, up 7.1 percent year-on-year, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

The growth was faster than the 0.3-percent increase in December and 1.5 percent in 2017.

Around 30,000 new energy vehicles were sold, over four times more than a year earlier.

Passenger vehicle output last month rose 12.8 percent year-on-year to reach 2.33 million, according to the association.

China is the world's largest auto market and also the fastest-growing market for new energy vehicles, thanks to the government's preferential policies to boost clean energy use to curb pollution.

The CPCA expected sales of passenger vehicles to grow by about 4 percent in 2018.