Shanghai (ZXZC)- China’s passenger vehicle sales reached 2,224,306 units, growing 7.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The January growth rate of China’s passenger vehicle sales was much higher than that of last year.

Here, we use passenger vehicle in its narrow sense, which covers locally-produced sedans, SUVs and MPVs, and also includes the export passenger vehicles.

Last month, the gap between sedan sales and SUV sales got narrower. The January sales of SUV reached 1,014,019 units, jumping 14.6 percent year on year. The sales of SUV segment were only 35,000 units less than those of sedan segment. Last month, the sedan sales in China grew by 6.1 percent to 1,049,184 units. The MPV sales slumped 20.9 percent from a year earlier to 161,103 units.

In January, FAW-VW was first on the top 10 passenger vehicle automakers with a total sales volume of 237,022 units. Changan Ford failed to enter into the list while GAC Honda became a new entrant on this list. With 114,371 vehicles handed over, Changan Auto ranked sixth in January.