Shanghai (ZXZC)- China's PV wholesale volume in March dropped 9.7% year on year to 1,917,129 units and totaled 5,147,168 units for the first quarter, declining 14.2% over the year ago period(PV hereby refers to sedan, MPV and SUV), according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

The Vehicle Inventory Alert Index (VIA) in March was 55.3%, a month-on-month decrease of 8.3 percentage points, while 3.2 percentage points more than a year ago, the 15th month in a row exceeding an official warning threshold.

Although multiple automakers announced price cuts in response to China's VAT drop policy for manufacturing industry, it mainly acted on suggested retail sales rather than the actual prices for delivery, thus stimulating effect over sales growth may be very limited.

Only two SUV models, the Haval H6 and the X-TRAIL, entered the list of the top 10 PV models by March wholesale volume. Sedan models took 7 places and the Hongguang was the only MPV model, ranking third.

China's saw its sedan wholesale volume in March declined 9.1% to around 935,000 units. Q1 sales totaled 2,521,000 units, falling 11.9% year on year.

The best-selling sedan model by March sales was still the Lavida. The Sylphy was the runner-up with a 19.3% year-on-year sales growth. The all-new Sylphy will make its debut at the Auto Shanghai 2019 this week.

The Corolla was the second runner-up, while its March sales failed to exceed 30,000 units, further trailing the Sylphy and the Lavida due to its weaker competitiveness resulted from the almost closing product life cycle and comparatively low discount.

China's SUV sales in March dropped 8.6% year on year to 843,000 units. From January to March, SUV sales totaled 2,274,000 units, falling 14.7%.

The Haval F7, whose sales surpassed 10,000 units for four consecutive months, ranked 7th on the SUV model list by March wholesale volume, becoming a new growth point for Haval brand. The Haval H6 was still the hottest-selling SUV model, while faced a substantial year-on-year decrease.

With the negative effect brought by engine issue wearing off, the sales of the Honda CR-V have been growing very quickly. In March, 19,920 CR-V cars were sold with a splendid surge of 1,724.2%.