Shanghai (ZXZC)- GAC Group sold 494,734 vehicles in the first quarter of the year, a year-on-year decline of 2.69%, according to the automaker’s sales report released on April 9. Its sales in March edged down 0.34% to 182,760 units.

For the first three months, its PV sales totaled 493,975 units, slightly falling 2.64% over the previous year. The sales drop should be entirely attributed to the SUV sales performance, which tumbled 26.77% year on year to 203,530 units. However, the sedan and MPV sectors achieved impressive sales growth of 25.11% and 47.74% respectively.

GAC Honda gained outstanding year-on-year increase in both March sales and Q1 sales. The year-to-date (YTD) sales of the Accord were 52,879 units, among which 20,412 units were sold in March, a year-on-year surge of 47.4%. Besides, the Q1 sales of the Crider, the Vezel, the Fit and the Odyssey reached 36,755 units, 27,035 units, 38,066 units and 7,658 units respectively.

Another Sino-Japanese joint venture GAC Toyota also achieved vigorous growth. The YTD sales of the all-new Camry jumped 21% from the year-ago period to 41,062 units. The Levin family, absorbing the Levin Hybrid E+ last month, had a Jan.-Mar. sales volume of 55,156 units. The TNGA-based all-new Levin will hit the market in May. 

The group's wholly-owned subsidiary GAC Motor witnessed its March sales slump 37.61% to 33,806 units and Q1 sales plunge 41.04% from the previous year to 88,038 units.