The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced on Friday that passenger car sales totaled 2.2 million units in January, 9.3 percent more than a year earlier, and the production of new-energy vehicles surged by 144 percent.

The passion for sport utility vehicles continues and the category contributed the most to the entire market, with about 784,900 units sold, a surge of 60.5 percent year-on-year.

About 261,400 multi-purpose vehicles were sold in January, a jump of 15.9 percent from the same period last year.

The top SUV maker and MPV maker last month are familiar to all: Great Wall Motor and SAIC General Motor Wuling stayed on their segment thrones. SAIC Volkswagen also maintained its crown in the sedans and hatchbacks segment.

In contrast, the nation witnessed a tumbling trend for minivans, whose volume totaled 71,300 units, a 31 percent drop year-on-year. About 1.1 million units of sedans and hatchbacks were sold, 9.1 percent less than January 2015.

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed the production of new-energy vehicles last month surged by 144 percent year-on-year to 16,100 units, and the output of fully electric passenger vehicles tripled from the same period last year, reaching 7,952 units in January.

Official data showed that 97 percent of new-energy vehicles produced in January would be eligible for favorable taxation policies.

The country has rolled out measures to promote new-energy vehicles, including tax exemptions, subsidies for car purchases and a requirement for government departments to buy more new-energy cars.

Sales of plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles reached 2,422 units, an increase of 80 percent year-on-year. Plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles saw a mild drop in output by 4 percent, totaling 834 units.

Chinese-branded cars expanded their market share by 3.1 percentage points to 45.5 percent in the passenger car market, selling more than 1 million units, 16.6 percent more than last January.