Sales of small cars in China's growing car market have been slow, according to reports in the country's state-run media.

Shanghai Daily reported that sales grew by 3.9 per cent during the first half of 2006 when compared to the same period last year. The small increase took unit sales to 570,000.

The growth rate is much slower than that of total auto sales in the period, which is 46.9 per cent.

Small car sales actually saw a considerable fall in June, when only 76,000 units were sold. That was a 24 per cent decrease from a year earlier.

Tougher emission limits and more stringent crash test regulations are thought to be behind the slow sales growth of small-engine vehicles, as they have pushed up production costs.

China is becoming a significant market to the motor vehicle industry, as a growing proportion of its population begin to adopt passenger cars.

Vehicles use autocatalysts containing platinum or other pgms such as palladium.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd