Vehicle sales in China, the world's second-biggest auto market, climbed by more than one-fifth in the first quarter of this year, an industry body said yesterday.

Sales of Chinese-made vehicles totaled 2.12 million units from January to March, up 22.2 percent from a year ago, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

In March alone, vehicle sales grew by 17 percent year-on-year to 847,200 units.

Car sales jumped by 30.1 percent to 1.12 million units in the first three months of this year, the association said. Meanwhile, sales of multi-purpose vehicles and sport utility vehicles stood at 53,100 units and 71,700 units, increasing 14.7 percent and 15.9 percent.

"The robust vehicle sales were mainly boosted by manufacturers' price cuts and new product launches," said Zhu Yiping, a spokesperson for the association.

"Sales for the full year will grow strongly as there are no major negative policies affecting the market," Zhu told China Daily.

She predicted total vehicle sales in 2007 will reach 8.5 million units, up from 7.22 million units last year. Car sales are expected to grow to 4.8 million units from 3.83 million units, she added.

Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Co, a Sino-German car joint venture, sold 102,648 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, up 18.7 percent.

The sales, maintaining the company's position as the No 2 single passenger car venture in China after General Motors' unit in Shanghai, was partly the result of its aggressive price cuts last month, it said.

Shanghai Volkswagen on March 15 slashed prices of the Santana, Santana 3000, Polo and Touran by 2,800 to 11,000 yuan.

An official from the company said yesterday that it aims to sell at least 396,000 cars this year, up from 352,000 units in 2006.

The venture plans to launch a Skoda Octavia compact sedan in the coming months and a Volkswagen CrossPolo subcompact car at the end of this year. Skoda is Volkswagen's Czech division.