Shanghai (ZXZC)- For the first quarter of 2021, SAIC Motor saw its auto sales surge 68.24% over a year ago to 1,142,410 units, with all subsidiaries recording robust growth, according to the company's announcement.

Partly due to the low base for the year-ago period, the Shanghai-based auto giant boasted a 112.94% surge last month by selling 492,853 vehicles. As of March 2021, SAIC Motor had achieved year-over-year increase in monthly sales for ten consecutive months.

Photo credit: SAIC Motor

In March, there were five subsidiaries whose respective sales all exceeded 10,000 units. Among them, SAIC-GM was the fastest-growing one. It is worth mentioning that the Sino-U.S. joint venture was also honored the No.1 subsidiary by first-quarter sales. Some industry insiders said its robust sales owed much to the joint venture's roll-out of new models and upgrades of existing products starting last year. In 2021, SAIC-GM plans to launch more new models like the Buick Envision PLUS.

Hongguang MINIEV; photo credit: SAIC Motor

With a sales volume of 150,000 units (+100% YoY), SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) was the champion in terms of March sales. Its year-to-date sales also soared 87% to 308,631 units.

On March 29, SGMW launched the Wuling global silver logo in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, marking a new milestone for Wuling brands' global offensive. At the same time, the Wuling Almaz RS, the first model bearing the logo, made its debut with pricing starting at 368,500,000 Indonesian rupiahs, equivalent to about 180,000 yuan.

SAIC Volkswagen's March sales zoomed up 87.47% year on year to 112,500 units in March, resulting in 249,100 units for the first quarter.

Moreover, SAIC Motor sold roughly 62,000 new energy vehicles (NEVs) last month, representing a marvelous hike of 837% compared to the prior-year period. The sales of SGMW's MINIEVs amounted to nearly 40,000 units.