Shanghai (ZXZC)- GAC AION, the NEV-dedicated arm of GAC Group, saw its monthly vehicle sales soar 189% year on year to 20,317 units in March 2022, the automaker said on April 1.

For the first quarter of 2022, GAC AION sold a total of 44,874 vehicles, representing a 154.3% year-on-year surge.

GAC AION was logging monthly sales topping 10,000 units for seven straight months from July 2021 to January 2022. Its monthly sales dropped to 8,526 units in February 2022 due to the factors like the Spring Festival holiday, and then hit a record high level in March.

GAC AION's blooming sales growth should owe much to the rapid expansion and upgrades of its product lineup. Last year, it launched three new models—the AION Y, the AION S Plus, and the AION V Plus— to perfect its layouts in the core NEV sectors featuring a price range of 100,000 yuan ($15,740) to 350,000 yuan ($55,105).

AION LX Plus; photo credit: GAC AION

At the Auto Guangzhou 2021, GAC AION launched the AION LX Plus, which boasts the use of the sponge-silicon-anode-based battery and a CLTC-rated range of up to 1,008km. The model officially hit the market in January with four trim levels.

With the advent of the AION X Plus, GAC AION's products have covered such segments as the small-sized sedan, the compact sedan, as well as the mid-sized SUV.

Besides, the 2022 AION S Plus went on sale in January this year. Compared to the former version, the refreshed one comes with fewer trim levels, but features greater intelligence performance.

In March, GAC AION started constructing a battery trial-production line, which is expected to go into operation at the end of this year. Involving a total investment of 336 million yuan ($52.9 million), the facility will produce batteries using the company's in-house developed battery technology, like the silicon sponge anode cell technology.

In terms of car production capacity, GAC AION on Feb. 18 announced the completion of the production capacity expansion project for its first vehicle plant, indicating its yearly capacity has doubled to 200,000 units.

Moreover, GAC AION's second plant is under construction and is set to start production in December 2022. By that moment, the automaker will feature a total annual production capacity of 400,000 vehicles.