China's automobile industry is continuing its recovery and new energy vehicles continue to contribute growth, Securities Daily reported on Wednesday.

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers indicate the production and sales of automobiles both exceeded 2.5 million units in September, a record high for the year.

China's automobile sales witnessed 12.8 percent year-on-year growth to reach 2.57 million units last month despite the COVID-19 pandemic coming under control, the report said.

The production of automobiles in the country grew 14.1 percent year-on-year to reach 2.52 million units in the same period.

By the end of September, automobile production and sales had been growing for six months in a row, with the growth rate of sales remaining above 10 percent for five consecutive months.

China's automobile industry has recovered to relative normalcy and the trend will remain in the future. It is expected that the growth rate of the fourth quarter will be similar to that of the third, said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.

China's whole car market will gain continuous confidence in the short term, especially with the support of policies, and new energy vehicles will have huge growth space, said Zhang Jing, chief writer at auto blog Kanche 8888.

The production and sales of new energy automobiles both surpassed 130,000 units in September, reaching 136,000 and 138,000 units with growth of 48 and 67.7 percent respectively, according to statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufactures.

China's automobile sales totaled 17.12 million units in the first three quarters of this year as the country's automobile market warmed alongside government polices to spur consumption.