Recasts on EV and hybrid sales, adds detail and context throughout

BEIJING, Sept 8 (Reuters) - China's August sales of electric vehicles and hybrids grew at the slowest pace in one and a half years as the government continues efforts to halt punishing price wars.

EV and hybrid sales outstripped gasoline cars for the sixth straight month in August, but annual growth cooled to 7.5% from 12% in July, China Passenger Car Association data showed on Monday.

That was the smallest gain since February 2024, when the segment registered an 11.6% sales decline owing to shifting timings of the week-long Chinese New Year holiday.

Overall car sales totalled 2.02 million vehicles last month, up 4.9% year on year for the slowest growth in seven months.

EV maker BYD 1211.HK 002594.SZ has cut its sales target for this year by as much as 16% to 4.6 million vehicles, Reuters reported last week.

The biggest Chinese rival to Tesla TSLA.O reported domestic sales, which account for nearly 80% of its global sales, fell for a fourth consecutive month in August, when it also recorded consecutive monthly production drops for the first time since 2020.

Reeling from weakening demand for extended-range hybrids, Li Auto's 2015.HK August sales were down year on year for a third month in a row.

The Chinese market's extended-range hybrid sales edged up 0.3% year on year after a 11.4% drop in July while plug-in hybrid sales were down 7.3%, against a 0.2% dip in July, CPCA data showed.

However, August was the best month yet in terms of EV and hybrid sales for local Geely 0175.HK, Xpeng 9868.HK and Nio 9866.HK.

Geely, China's biggest rival to BYD, registered a 95.2% annual leap in sales in this segment last month.

Car export growth eased to 20.2% last month from 25% in July.

($1 = 7.1529 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li and Casey HallEditing by Andrew Cawthorne and David Goodman)

((qiaoyi.li@thomsonreuters.com;))