SHANGHAI, China — China's car production rose 52 percent in January from a year earlier to 391,600 units, while sales surged 73 percent to 418,900 units, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.

The report said that January car output was down 4 percent from December, with sales down 8 percent, citing data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The report did not give comparative figures.

January auto sales and output usually are lower than those for December, when automakers tend to rush to meet their full-year targets. January also had fewer working days this year because the lunar New Year holiday, when companies close for a week, started Jan. 29.

China's total vehicle production in January rose 28 percent from a year earlier to 521,600 units, while sales were up 45 percent to 530,100 units.

China's commercial vehicle production fell 13 percent from January 2005, to 130,000 units. Sales of commercial vehicles slipped 10 percent from a year earlier and by 33 percent from December to 111,100 units, the report said.

Meanwhile, China has drafted a new policy requiring car companies to ensure their vehicles and parts can be recycled.

The requirement, to be phased in over more than a decade, would require both domestically produced and imported vehicles to be 85 percent recyclable by 2010, according to a copy of the new law posted on the Web site of the National Development and Reform Commission. Materials used in vehicles must be 75 recyclable by then.

The recycling rate for vehicles and materials would be progressively increased, to 95 percent and 85 percent, respectively, by 2017.