Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chery Holding reports on April 2 that it sold a total of 161,929 vehicles for the first quarter of the year.

The automaker saw its sales in March surge 57.9% month on month to 61,299 units, among which the monthly export volume and NEV sales significantly grew 60.4% and 13.2% over the previous month.

Chery Holding got a favorable start in 2019 with its January car sales jumping 23.3% year on year to 61,815 units. Last month, its sales once again exceeded 60,000 units despite the slowdown of the overall auto market. Driven by such sales mainstays as the Tiggo 8 and the Arrizo series, Chery brand sold 32,140 units in March and its domestic sales soared 56% from a month earlier. The March sales of Chery Jaguar Land Rover, Qoros and Cowin leapt 87.9%, 28% and 101.5% compared with a month ago.

The one-year-old JETOUR sold a total of 29,061 vehicles for the first three months. In March, its sales shot up 67.6% month on month to 11,907 units, among which the sales of the JETOUR X70/X70S totaled 10,107 units.

New energy vehicle (NEV) and export business also propel the sales growth of the group. In the first quarter, Chery Holding's NEV sales jumped 23.2% year on year. Of that, the sales of the Tiggo 3xe and the eQ series respectively represented remarkable year-on-year growth of 87% and 26%.

In terms of export business, aside from Chery brand, the JETOUR series has started its journey to overseas markets. The first batch of the JETOUR X70/X70 S cars have been recently transported to Angola and Ecuador from Qingdao port and Shanghai Port.

It is reported that Chery Holding plans to roll out 11 new cars in 2019. The company has begun to accept orders of the EXEED TXL/TX (four-wheel drive), the first model under Chery's all-new premium car brand EXEED, on March 28.