China's passenger-car sales grew at a faster pace in July as the government introduced subsidies for fuel-efficient models and dealers offered discounts to clear inventories in the world's biggest automobile market, Bloomberg reported yesterday. According to data released by the China Automotive Technology & Research Center, sales of the country's passenger cars reached 822,300 units in July, up 15.43% year on year, but slightly down 3.44% month on month. The production rose 12.82% y/y and dipped 2.89% m/m to 949,100 unit in the month. In the January to July period, China's passenger cars reported sales of 6.30 million units, up 24.27% from a year earlier, while the production came to 7.30 million units, up 40.35% over the same period last year. Moreover, 584,900 sedans were sold In July, up 13.28% over the figure a year earlier, down 4.89% m/m. While the sedan production totaled 661,600 units, up 7.43% y/y, but down 3.70% m/m.In the first seven months of this year, China boosted its sedan sales to 4.52 million units, up 23.38% y/y; its sedan production rose 37.02% to 5.11 million units. In July, sales of China's cross-type passenger cars  rose by 0.53% y/y and fell by 0.87% m/m to 133,100 units, while the production achieved 157,200 units, up 2.37% y/y, but down 6.45% m/m.In the period from January to July, China saw sales of its cross-type passenger cars grow 5.69% y/y to 1.07 million units and output of the cars jump 28.42% to 1.37 million units.Apart from that, China's SUV market posted strong growth in July, with sales up 65.58% y/y and 5.41% m/m, and with production up 74.76% y/y and 7.85% m/m.The country's MPV sales, meanwhile, jumped 60.41% y/y, but down 5.43% m/m. The production increased 99.07% y/y and 3.56% m/m.