BEIJING, CHINA (AFP) - China's auto production topped 10 million units for the year Tuesday, the first time it has broken the mark, state media reported, as makers boost output to meet demand in the fast-growing market.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), said the only other countries to attain that mark were the United States and Japan, according to Xinhua news agency.

The 10 millionth car rolled off an assembly line at a factory owned by Chinese carmaker First Automobile Works Group in Changchun, capital of the northeastern province of Jilin, the Xinhua report said.

China's auto sector has grown quickly in recent years and it became the world's largest car market in January when sales outstripped the United States for the first time.

The manufacturer's group had said last week that output was likely to reach 12 million for all of 2009.

It said at the time that China's auto sales soared 77.9 percent in September from a year ago to 1.33 million units - the seventh straight month that sales exceeded the one million unit mark.

Last year, a total of 9.4 million units were sold in China, up eight percent from the previous year.

Sales have been boosted lately by government incentives aimed at stimulating domestic consumption to fight the economic slump, including cutting taxes on cars with engines smaller than 1.6 litres and subsidising alternative-energy vehicles.