In March, passenger car retail sales in China reached 1.94 million units, a year-on-year increase of 14.4% and a month-on-month increase of 40.2%, bringing 2025 Q1’s cumulative retail volume to 5.127 million units, a year-on-year increase of 6.0%, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The March retail sales were only slightly lower than the peak of 1.98 million in March 2018.

Passenger Vehicles	Sales Volume	Y-on-Y Change	Production Volume	Y-on-Y Change
Sedan and hatchback	902,000	14.3%	1.046 million	8.7%
SUV	949,000	16.7%	1.257 million	9.2%
MPV	89,000	-4.6%	108,000	7.3%
Total	1.94 million	14.4%	2.412 million	8.9%

In particular, 991,000 new energy passenger vehicles were sold in March, up 38.0% year-on-year and 45.0% month-on-month; bringing the quarterly cumulative retail volume to 2.42 million units, a year-on-year increase of 36.4%. Additionally, 143,000 new energy passenger vehicles were exported, a year-on-year increase of 6.4% and a month-on-month increase of 21.2%, with pure electric vehicles accounting for 62% of the total. The quarterly cumulative export volume was 401,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 19.8%.

Ranking	Brands	Sales Volume	Market Share	Y-on-Y Change
1	BYD	290,000	15%	11.5%
2	Geely	195,000	10.1%	70.5%
3	FAW-Volkswagen	130,000	6.7%	-7.8%
4	Chery	119,000	6.2%	58.6%
5	Changan	111,000	5.7%	7.2%
6	SAIC-Volkswagen	91,000	4.7%	3.9%
7	SGMW	81,000	4.2%	55.8%
8	Tesla China	74,000	3.8%	18.8%
9	FAW-Toyota	71,000	3.7%	22.6%
10	GAC-Toyota	66,000	3.4%	19.3%

Domestic Chinese automakers retailed 1.22 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 31% and a month-on-month increase of 33%, accounting for 62.7% of the market share, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%. In contrast, joint venture brands sold 480,000 vehicles in March, a year-on-year decrease of 4% and up 45% month-on-month, among which Japanese brands saw the largest decline, with a retail share of 12.2%.

Source: CPCA, Xchuxing