The growth in China's light-vehicle sales slowed to 1.4 percent in 2017 from nearly 15 percent a year earlier after Beijing phased out part of the tax cut on small-vehicle purchases.

Approximately 24.72 million vehicles were sold last year in China, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Thursday.

Last year, deliveries of crossovers and SUVs rose 13 percent year on year to roughly 10.25 million, according to the association.

But sales in all other segments declined. Sedan sales dropped 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 11.84 million. Multipurpose vehicle deliveries fell 17 percent to below 2.1 million while microvan sales slumped 20 percent to about 547,000.

Light-vehicle sales continued to lose steam toward the end of last year. In December, total sales slid 0.7 percent year on year to below 2.7 million vehicles.

In January 2017, the Chinese government phased out part of the purchase tax cut on vehicles with engines of up to 1.6 liters. The tax rose to 7.5 percent from 5 percent in 2016.

The tax was restored to its normal 10 percent rate this month, which will make it hard for the market to resume growth anytime soon.