Both vehicle output and sales in China jumped by more than one-third in the first quarter of this year from a year ago, mainly because of robust demand for cars, an industry association said yesterday.

The nation's first-quarter vehicle output reached 1.78 million units, up 36.3 per cent, according to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Sales of domestically made vehicles rose by 36.9 per cent year-on-year to 1.73 million units from January to March this year.

Both vehicle output and sales in March alone hit an all-time monthly record of 732,800 and 721,500 units respectively, up 28.5 per cent and 23.9 per cent from a year earlier.