AUTOMAKERS in China suffered a third straight month of shrinking sales in August as rising exports failed to offset weak domestic demand, reports Caixin.

Sales fell five per cent year on year 2.45 million vehicles, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The decline was primarily due to sluggish demand at home, where sales were down 10.7 per cent year-on-year to about 1.94 million vehicles in August, the CAAM data showed.

Consumer confidence is low in the domestic market, affecting spending on big-ticket items like cars, said Chen Shihua, CAAM's deputy secretary general.