China's mechanical industry developed rapidly last year, buoyed by the fast-growing auto and electrical appliance segments, China Machinery Industry Federation said Thursday.

The auto sub-sector contributed nearly 60 percent of the industry's new revenues, while the electrical appliance sub-sector contributed around 20 percent, Wang Ruixiang, head of the federation, said at a conference.

Profits of automakers rose to 688.6 billion yuan (around 100 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 66.27 billion yuan from 2015.

Auto sales continued rapid growth in 2016 partly due to the government's tax cut incentives.

Sales of domestic brand passenger cars jumped over 20 percent year on year, accounting for more than 40 percent of the country's passenger-car sales.

Wang said priority will be given to sectors including high-end numerical control machine tools, basic equipment manufacturing and intelligent equipment this year.

He also called for innovation in the mechanical industry.