BEIJING - Chinese car brands maintained steady growth in sales and gained a larger market share at home in August, industry data showed.

A total of 850,000 home-brand passenger cars were sold in the Chinese market last month, up 41 percent year-on-year, said the China Passenger Car Association.

They accounted for 45.8 percent of the total retail sales in August, up 3.8 percentage points from a year ago.

In the first eight months of the year, Chinese-brand car sales accounted for 46 percent of the total passenger car retail sales, up 6.9 percentage points from the year-earlier level.

The association noted that domestic auto brands registered robust growth in the new energy vehicle market, with the market share of leading firms such as BYD, Chery, Geely, and Changan recording a remarkable increase.