Vehicle sales in China, the world's largest car market, increased at their slowest pace in three years in 2015, industry group data shows, as slowing growth and volatile stock markets hit demand.
A total of 24.60 million cars were sold last year, up 4.7% from 2014, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
But that was down from a 6.9% rise in 2014 and marked the slowest growth since 2012 when sales increased by 4.3%, previous CAAM figures showed.
CAAM secretary general Dong Yang estimated that purchase restrictions imposed in big cities pulled car sales growth down by up to eight percentage points, while extraordinary swings in the country's stock markets were responsible for a two percentage point drop.
Sales may gain around 6% this year to top 26 million units, CAAM said, according to Bloomberg News.
China's auto industry felt the pinch of the country's slowing economic growth last year, with producers scaling back output and media reports of unusually long holidays at factories and decreased bonuses and overtime pay for workers.
Economic growth hit a 24-year low of 7.3% in 2014 and slowed further last year, weakening to 6.9% in the third quarter July-September period.
A spectacular rally in Chinese shares in the first half of 2015 attracted huge flows of funds into the stock markets, much of which became locked up in an ensuing rout, hitting consumers' budgets and dampening demand for cars.
To prop up the auto industry, the government cut purchase taxes by half on cars with small engines from October 1.
