BEIJING -- Sales of Chinese-brand passenger vehicles grew 22.4 percent year- on-year in the first half of the year (H1), industry data showed.

About 5.99 million Chinese-brand passenger vehicles were sold in the first six months, accounting for 53.1 percent of the country's total passenger-car sales during the period, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

In June alone, sales of domestic auto brands rose 21.2 percent year- on-year to about 1.21 million units, the data showed.

The sales made up 53.1 percent of the country's total passenger-car sales last month, up 8.4 percentage points from the same period last year.