Passenger car sales surged 37 per cent over a year earlier to 831,000, outpacing US sales in April of 820,000 units, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

After slowing late last year as the impact from the global financial crisis deepened, China's auto sales have risen for five straight months. In March, vehicle sales hit a monthly record high of 1.11 million units.

A large share of sales in April were of small cars and crossover vehicles promoted by tax cuts and other policies favouring vehicles with engine displacement of 1.6 litres or less, the industry group said in the report on its website.

Such vehicles accounted for 691,000 of the total, it said.

China bypassed Japan to become the world's second biggest market for new vehicles in 2006. With its 1.3 billion population, it was also bound to overtake the US, and the sharp downturn in American sales has accelerated that trend.