Growth in China’s auto sales will slow to 3% to 5% this year after government incentives that boosted deliveries in 2010 were removed, according to Xu Changming, Research Director at the State Information Center. Deliveries will likely be about 19 million units this year. “I don’t expect any more stimulus policies from the government in the near future,” Xu said. China’s auto sales have slowed this year after surging 32% in 2010 to a record, as the government phased out sales tax breaks and rebates for rural purchases. Total vehicle deliveries rose 3.2% in the first seven months, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). The State Information Center is conducting research on consumer acceptance of electric vehicles to see whether and under what circumstances buyers will opt for the alternative-energy cars, Xu said. Growth in China’s auto sales picked up in August as automakers offered more price cuts to boost demand, the CAAM said. Vehicle deliveries grew to 1.38 million units last month, an increase of 4.1% from the same period of last year. The growth accelerated from the 2.2% increase in July and June’s 1.4%. Passenger car sales gained 7.3% year on year to 1.09 million units while commercial vehicle sales fell 6.4% to 285,900 units. “We expect the auto market to be brisk in the next few months and the mild growth is likely to continue,” the CAAM said. The Association revised 2011 sales growth down to 5% from an earlier estimate of 10% to 15%. In the first eight months of this year, carmakers sold 3.3% more vehicles, totaling 11.9 million units, the CAAM’s figures showed. In the first eight months of the year, overall sales expanded 3.3% to 12 million units, with passenger-car sales gaining 6.1% to 9.2 million units. Sales at SAIC-GM-Wuling Automotive showed the biggest growth last month, the carmaker association said. GM said that August sales rose 13% to 205,885.