BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Passenger car sales in China in the first five months of 2008 rose 17.41 percent over the same period a year earlier, an industry group said on Friday.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), car sales reached 3.02 million units, including 2.23 million sedans, 179,200 sport-utility vehicles (SUV) and 93,200 multi-utility vehicles (MUV) in the period.

Sales of passenger cars, SUV, and MUV in May alone totaled 564,600, up 16 percent over the same month last year. The growth rate was quicker than April's 11 percent.

Auto sales in China were expected to exceed 10 million units this year, which would represent a full year sales growth of 14 percent, CAAM said.

Auto sales have maintained double-digit growth since the beginning of the year, in contrast to weakening sales in much of the world's other major auto markets.