BEIJING-- China's August automobile sales rose 8.29 percent month-on-month to 1.38 million units, up 4.15 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Friday.

Automobile output reached 1.39 million units in August, up 6.66 percent from July and 8.72 percent year-on-year, according to a statement posted on the MIIT's website.

The August figure brought auto sales for the first eight months of 2011 to 11.98 million units. Automakers have been making efforts to reduce their inventories after the government ended incentive programs and imposed new limits on car purchases at the beginning of this year.

SAIC Motor, Dongfeng Motor Corp and FAW Group were the top sellers during the first eight months, with sales of 324,000 units, 228,600 units and 217,400 units, respectively.

Dong Yang, secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said auto sales will further improve the rest of the year, the traditional peak sales season.

He expects auto sales in the country will grow by 3 percent to 5 percent from a year earlier to exceed 18.6 million units.