Shanghai (ZXZC)- BYD Company Limited (BYD) said it sold a total of 104,145 new vehicles in the first quarter of 2021 (Q1), representing a 69.97% hike from a year earlier.

The impressive growth in Q1 sales was credited to the consecutive growth in monthly sales as of March 2021. Last month, BYD's auto sales jumped 33.39% year on year to 40,817 units, while zoomed up 95.04% from the previous month. The automaker also achieved 68.44% and 280.42% year-on-year surge in Jan. and Feb. sales respectively.

BYD Han EV; photo credit: BYD

In March, BYD's new energy vehicle (NEV) sales soared 97.6% over the year-ago period to 24,218 units, showing year-over-year growth for the seventh month in a row.

Among NEVs sold last month, 23,386 units were passenger vehicles (PVs), representing an increase of 98.81% from the previous year. The battery electric vehicle (BEV) unit outperformed the plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV) in March sales volume, while its sales growth was greatly outpaced by the latter.

The automaker will roll out five all-new and refreshed BEV models at one go on April 7. The Qin PLUS EV and the Song PLUS EV are the fire new products adopting BYD's all-new design language, and the three refreshed models—the Tang EV, the Qin EV and the e2 still inherit the exterior styling of their existing versions. Notably, all of the five models will come standard with BYD's “Blade Battery”.

2021 BYD Tang; photo credit: BYD

BYD's oil-fueled vehicle sales fell 9.51% from the prior-year period to 16,599 units in March, while shot up 57.01% compared to February. The year-on-year decrease was due to the sliding sales of SUVs and MPVs. Nonetheless, the sedan segment still recorded a 101.24% robust growth with 4,707 vehicles sold.

BYD announced last month its Q1 2021 net profit attributable to shareholders is forecasted to reach 200 million yuan ($30.579 million) to 300 million yuan ($45.868 million), rising 77.56% to 166.34% compared to the same period in 2020.