Cars, MPVs and crossovers saw their sales fall by 9 percent to 29 percent each from the same period a year earlier.

The commercial vehicle market was equally discouraging. In the first eight months of the year, 2.23 million vehicles were sold, registering a 12.6 percent slump year-on-year. Sales in August stood at 246,000 units, a 5 percent rise from July yet a 0.6 percent slip year-on-year.

New-energy vehicles are a different story. CAAM statistics show that China sold 18,054 such vehicles in August, 3.5 times the figure a year earlier.

Sales of new-energy vehicles in the first eight months totaled 108,654 units, a 270 percent rise from the same period last year. Of those, pure electric models were in the majority.

Despite the poor overall performance, the market share of Chinese brands continues to rise, a sole piece of reassuring news for those championing to build the country into a leader in the industry.

By the end of August, they held a 41 percent market share, up from 37.5 percent in the same period a year earlier.

That is mainly because of the popularity of locally made SUVs, as their market share grew by 11.2 percentage points from January to August.

Japanese brands saw their combined share inch from 15.1 percent to 15.6 percent in the same period.

Brands from Germany, the United States, South Korea and France saw their market shares fall by 0.3 percent to 1.6 percent each.