CHINA'S passenger car sales rose 23 percent last month, the fastest pace in the past three months, as price cuts and new models attracted more people to showrooms.

Sales of passenger cars, including multipurpose vehicles and sport-utility vehicles, rose to 488,500 units in May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in an e-mailed statement today, according to Bloomberg.

Hyundai Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and other automakers are offering discounts while expanding production to help attract consumers in a market where 16 vehicles are sold every minute.

China's total vehicle sales may rise more than 15 percent to 8.35 million units this year, according to the association.

Toyota, Japan's largest automaker, opened a factory in China's northern city of Tianjin last month to meet rising demand for Corolla sedans. The plant boosted Toyota's capacity in the city by 91 percent and it may help the carmaker increase sales in China by at least 30 percent this year.

In the first five months of the year, car sales rose 21 percent to 2.57 million vehicles, the association said.