Auto sales in China, the world's largest car market, jumped to a record high in November, an industry group said Thursday, as a vehicle purchase tax cut by the government boosted demand.

A total of 2.51 million vehicles were sold in the country last month, up 20.0 percent from a year ago and the highest monthly figure ever, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement.

November was the third straight month that sales increased. The country's car sales had previously fallen for five months through August as the world's second-biggest economy suffers a growth slowdown.

To prop up the auto industry, the government cut purchase taxes by half on passenger cars with small engines from October 1.

Bloomberg News reported Wednesday the government was considering subsidies for rural residents to buy cars with engines smaller than 1.6 litres, restoring an incentive introduced for two years in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

Despite the strong growth, auto sales in January-November rose just 3.3 percent year-on-year to 21.79 million vehicles, much weaker than the increase of 6.1 percent in the same period of 2014.

China's auto industry has felt the pinch of the country's slowing economic growth, with producers scaling back output and media reports of unusually long holidays at factories, decreased bonuses and overtime pay for workers.

Growth in 2014 hit a 24-year low of 7.3 percent and expansion has slowed further this year, weakening to 6.9 percent in the July-September period.

Overall car sales reached 23.49 million units last year, up 6.9 percent from 2013.

Beijing lifts smog red alert
Beijing (AFP) Dec 10, 2015 - Beijing's first ever red alert for smog expired Thursday, as blue skies and sunshine replaced the thick haze that covered the city for days.

The Chinese capital put its air pollution emergency plan into action earlier this week, pulling half of all private vehicles off the streets from Tuesday, ordering many factories to close and recommending that some schools allow students to remain home.

The measures were being lifted from midday Thursday, according to a social media post by Beijing's environmental protection bureau.

The red alert, the highest tier of a four-colour warning system, came as heavy smog flooded the city for the second time in as many weeks.

The unprecedented move followed scathing public criticism aimed at the city's weak response to last week's thick haze, which saw pollution sky-rocket to levels not seen in years.

Counts of PM2.5 -- harmful microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs -- reached well over 600 micrograms per cubic metre last week, according to the US embassy, which issues independent readings, and were regularly above 300 in recent days.

By lunchtime on Thursday they were down to 22 as moderate winds blew from the north, below even the World Health Organization's recommended maximum exposure of 25.

In a note posted online, the city wrote that the emergency measures had "been effective in slowing down the process of smog accumulation", and expressed its "heartfelt thanks" and "sincere tribute" for residents' contributions to the effort.

The city will "fight well a hard battle to prevent and contain air pollution", it said.

But the struggle is largely out of municipal officials' hands since much of its air pollution comes from neighbouring areas, where pollution levels remained hazardous Thursday, particularly to the south in Hebei province.

- Hospital visits -

The recurrent bad air has driven residents of the capital to hospitals in growing numbers, according to a report on Internet giant Tencent's news portal.

During the last month's periods of severe pollution, it said, trips to medical facilities using hailing app Didi Kuaidi -- backed by Tencent -- went from 3.4 percent of all journeys to 4.1 percent, an increase of more than a fifth.

The report also cited online retailer JD.com as saying pollution mask sales soared by as much as 400 percent in response to the bad air.

The miasma came as President Xi Jinping attended a critical meeting on climate change in Paris, a potentially embarrassing coincidence that underscored China's struggle to control the pollution that contributes to both its chronic smog and global warming.

Most of the country's greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of coal for electricity and heating, particularly when demand peaks in winter, which is also the key cause of smog.

Earlier this month, China's meteorological bureau said it expected at least one and possibly two more bouts of heavy pollution in December, with the first expected as soon as Saturday.

It remains unclear how Beijing will respond to future airborne smog peaks, but other cities in the region followed its lead this week by issuing their own red alerts as pollution levels climbed even higher than those seen in the capital.