BEIJING -- Chinese-branded passenger car manufacturers got off to a good start this year, occupying a higher market share, the latest industry data showed.

In February, 873,000 Chinese-branded passenger cars were sold, up 15.2 percent month-on-month and 37.3 percent year-on-year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The market share of domestic passenger-car makers increased to 52.8 percent last month, up 10.1 percentage points from a year ago.

Sales of Chinese-branded passenger cars reached 1.63 million units from January to February, accounting for 52.3 percent of the country's total passenger car sales, up 7.6 percentage points from a year ago, CAAM data showed.