BEIJING - China's passenger car sales continued to shrink in August, data from an industrial association showed Monday.

The retail sales of passenger vehicles reached 1.564 million units last month, down 9.9 percent year on year and up 5.4 percent month on month, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

The CPCA attributed the sales slowdown to slack production and bad weather in August.

Wholesale of new energy passenger cars fell 15.5 percent year on year last month and rose 6 percent over July, CPCA data showed.

The association expected market sentiment to pick up in September with retail sales growth to remain about flat and wholesale to rebound to positive growth.