BEIJING -- More vehicles were sold in China last year than in Japan, making China the world's second largest auto market after the United States, with almost 6 million units sold, a state newspaper said on Friday.

But if imports of 160,000 were excluded, China was still number three, the People's Daily said.

Chinese vehicle sales last year rose 14 percent from 2004 to 5.8 million units, the newspaper said, refering only to China-made products. Sales this year of vehicles -- including everything from cars to buses and trucks -- are expected to grow 10 to 15 percent to 6.4 million to 6.6 million units, the report said, citing figures from the official China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

But sales of passengers vehicles, including sedans and SUVs, jumped 21 percent to nearly 4 million units, the newspaper said, bouncing back from a relatively lackluster rise of 15 percent in 2004. In 2003, sales almost doubled.

Car sales had been slowing, due in part to Beijing's crackdown on easy auto credit to help cool an overheating Chinese economy.

The stronger performance in 2005 was partly due to healthy sales in secondary markets in poorer inland provinces, the paper said, quoting an official at the auto association.

China has turned into a boom for automakers struggling under discounting in saturated mature markets such as Europe and the United States.

Earlier this month, General Motors reported a 35 percent rise in China sales to 665,390 vehicles in 2005, exceeding the combined 564,300 units sold by Volkswagen AG's two Chinese joint ventures.