Figures from the China Passenger Car Association show that sales of passenger cars fell 0.4% to 880,027 units in February from a year earlier, and were down 37% compared to the month before.

And according to the UK's Financial Times, carmakers such as Ford and GM believe sales will slow down in 2011.

Kevin Wale, GM’s head of China operations, is quoted as saying: 'The trend line is 10 to 15% continuing growth levels,' although he added: 'We are not seeing any signs that underlying demand for cars isn’t strong.'

Meanwhile, the Financial Times has reported Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s Asia-Pacific head, as saying: 'We are feeling that the growth has slowed down . . . but it’s still the world’s largest growth market.'

Earlier this week Audi released its latest sales figures for January and February and reported a 28.9% increase in sales to Chinese customers compared to the same period in 2010.