BEIJING - Sales of passenger cars in China rose in June as the market continued to recover, the latest industry data shows.

The retail sales of passenger vehicles exceeded 1.65 million units last month, up 2.9 percent from the previous month, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

It was the fourth consecutive month that the market saw month-on-month sales increase, the association said in its latest monthly report.

The country's passenger car market saw a sharp contraction in the first quarter amid the unprecedented halt brought about by the novel coronavirus outbreak, but it started to come out of the bottom in the second quarter as the COVID-19 epidemic wanes.

The "V-shape" rebound showed the country's measures to boost consumption helped market recovery, the report said.

In the first half of the year, passenger car retail sales went down 23 percent year on year to 7.7 million units, narrowing from the 26 percent decrease for the January-May period, the report showed.