China's auto sales fell 8.2 percent year-on-year in 2019 with sales of new energy vehicle declining for the first time, Sohu reported on Monday.

A total of 25.77 million automobiles were sold in 2019, about 2.31 million fewer than the previous year, according to the Automobile Industry Blue Book: China Automobile Industry Development Report (2020).

Passenger vehicles still dominate the automobile industry, accounting for 83.2 percent of the industry in 2019, up 7.5 percentage points compared with 10 years ago.

Accounting for over 80 percent of auto industry for eight consecutive years, passenger vehicles remain a driver for the country's automobile industry development.

In 2019, China's new energy vehicle market experienced its first drop, with a total sales volume of 1.206 million units for the whole year, down 4.0 percent year-on-year, accounting for 4.7 percent of the total automobile sales volume, up 0.2 percentage points from 2018.

The sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 1.06 million, up 0.7 percent year-on-year, accounting for 87.9 percent of the total number of new energy vehicles, making them the absolute main force.