Shanghai (ZXZC)- In March, GAC Group clocked a year-on-year sales drop of 39.55%, but saw a significant rebound compared to the previous month. Year-to-date sales fell 38.13%, versus 42.4% slump in China's overall sales announced by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

NEV sales in March soared 130% over a year ago to 4,111 units, of which 3,503 units (+121%) were the contribution of GAC NE. The sales volume of the Aion S reached 2,957 units, which made the model's Q1 sales total 7,038 units.

According to GAC Group, GAC NE plans to roll out two all-new BEV models this year in a bid to maintain the rising momentum.

GAC Trumpchi, GAC Group's self-owned PV brand, sold 17,644 vehicles in total last month. During the same period, its export volume surged 114.5% over the prior-year period to 2,714 units.

Trumpchi put forth great efforts to reduce inventories, upgrade main products and improve marketing system in 2019. The second-generation Trumpchi GS4 hit the market in last November, and for the first time introduced Tencent’s in-car WeChat, an extremely popular instant messaging app in China.

For the first quarter, the sales volume of the Trumpchi GS4 leapt 28.38% year on year to 26,220 units thanks to the driving force of the all-new version.

Three Sino-Japanese joint ventures saw their sales in March remarkably pick up from February. The respective sales volumes of the GAC Honda, GAC Toyota and GAC Mitsubishi were 32,143 units, 49,480 units and 2,043 units. Among them, GAC Toyota posted a 9.9% year-over-year decline, versus 79.78% drop for February.

GAC Group said the sales of GAC Honda and GAC Toyota were expected to be further increased, buoyed by the Breeze and the Wildlander, which went on sale in last November and this year's February respectively.

Both of them resolve to enrich their product matrixes in 2020. GAC Honda has put the new Avancier, the Breeze HEV and the mid-cycle refresh of the Vezel onto the market at the end of March, and intends to launch the Crider HEV this year. GAC Toyota prepares to release the C-HR EV (photo source: GAC Group).