China’s auto sales rose 15.7 percent last year to 17.9 million vehicles, boosted by strong demand in December, an industry group reported Thursday. Sales growth in China, the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold, has slowed but still outstrips Western markets. Automakers including General Motors and Toyota reported record China sales in 2013 and BMW said this country became its biggest market. December was China’s busiest sales month yet at 2.1 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. It gave no growth rate, but that total would be a 17 percent increase over the figure reported earlier for December 2012. Competition is intensifying as automakers plow billions of dollars into developing models to suit Chinese tastes. Some have launched low-cost brands created for this country. Sales growth is likely to decline to 8 to 10 percent this year, said Jia Xinguang, an […]