Meteoric rise in SUV sales but risky to rely primarily on sector

As sales of SUVs continue to boom, Chinese automakers have seen a meteoric rise in their share of this market segment. According to the latest data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales of Chinese-branded passenger vehicles rose by over 17 percent in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015, outpacing the rate of growth in the overall passenger car market, which grew by an average of 8.9 percent in the first quarter.

Local brands saw their market share soar to 42.5 percent, in contrast to growth of just 3.5 percent year-on-year for foreign-branded models.

A closer look at the data reveals that Chinese automakers sold more than 1.14 million SUVs in Q1, a phenomenal rise of 58 percent on 2015, with SUV sales accounting for nearly 50 percent of the total volume generated by local original equipment manufacturers.