Auto sales in China fell for a 16th consecutive month in October, with the number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold contracting for the fourth month in a row, data from the country's biggest auto industry association showed.

Total auto sales in the world's biggest auto market fell 4% from the same month a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said. That followed declines of 5.2% in September and 6.9% in August. Car sales in 2018 declined from a year earlier, the first annual contraction since the 1990s, against a backdrop of slowing economic growth and a crippling trade war with the United States.

Sales of NEVs fell 45.6% in October, CAAM said, following a 33% decline in September. NEV sales jumped almost 62% last year even as the broader auto market contracted. NEVs include plug-in hybrids, battery-only electric vehicles and those powered by hydrogen fuel cells.