Top Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp posted a 14.4 percent rise in vehicle sales in August from a year ago, it said in filing to the stock exchange late on Sept 6.

SAIC, the China partner of General Motors and one of the parterres of Volkswagen, sold 327,924 vehicles?last month, up from 286,502 units a year earlier and 270,439 in July, it said.

Total sales so far this year is up 11.3 percent from the same period a year ago, it said.

After two straight years of frantic expansion, car sales in China settled into a subdued growth pattern at the beginning of 2011, after Beijing stripped away most of its stimulus measures, including rebates for farmers trading in old, gas-guzzling vehicles for more fuel efficient ones.

In the first half, SAIC sold more than 2 million vehicles, up 13 percent year-on-year. The company has said it aims to sell 4 million units for the full year.