China's once-feverish auto market is struggling with a prolonged downturn resulted from economic slowdown and withdrawal of policy incentives.

Auto sales across the country totaled 1.66 million units in November, representing a slight drop of 2.42 percent year on year, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Output in November came in at 1.7 million units, falling 3.41 percent from the previous year.

In the first 11 months, auto output and sales grew about 2 percent year on year to 16.73 million units and 16.82 million units, respectively.

Xu Changming, Director of Information Resource Department of the State Information Center, said the drop was within expectations.

"November and December are traditionally peak months for vehicle sales, but the gloom will continue in the coming months with the government rolling back some policy incentives," he said.

"In addition, the favorable tax policies attracted many potential buyers to showrooms in the past two years, leaving less demands for this year," said Jia Xinguang, analyst with China Automobile Industry Consulting Co. Ltd.

Despite looming uncertainties, the CAAM predicted that this year's total auto sales will surpass last year's 18.06 million units. The association also expected the market to grow 5-10 percent in 2012 as policy effect abates.