China sold 28.08 million autos last year, down 2.76 percent year on year, remaining the world's largest auto market, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed Monday.

Annual passenger car sales dropped 4.1 percent from the previous year to 23.71 million units, while annual production last year also fell 5.2 percent year on year to 23.53 million units, the association said.

Bucking the downward trend, annual sales of new energy vehicles (NEV) soared last year, seeing a 61.74 percent year-on-year growth to 1.26 million units.

Thanks to the government's preferential policies to boost clean energy use to curb pollution, China has become one of the fastest-growing NEV markets.

Meanwhile, commercial vehicles sales also rose, with 4.37 million units sold last year, a 5.05 percent year-on-year increase.

Data from the CAAM also showed SAIC Motor boasted the largest sales last year among domestic car manufacturers, while BYD Auto, Geely and Chery registered the fastest sales growth.

Policy makers have been planning measures to boost consumption. Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, has said that policies will be rolled out to stabilize consumption of automobiles and home appliances.

The country's auto market is expected to advance at a slow pace this year, with about 28 million cars likely to be sold in 2019, flat with 2018, according to the CAAM.

Commercial vehicles sales might edge up 1 percent year on year to reach 4.4 million units, while NEV sales are expected to register a fast clip at 33 percent year on year to reach about 1.6 million units.

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