(Yicai) April 23 -- Chongqing’s production of new energy vehicles doubled in the first three months from the same period a year ago driven by rapid turnover at local car giants Changan Automobile and Seres Group, according to the latest data.

The municipality in southwestern China produced 165,100 units in the three months ended March 31, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The city’s auto sector expanded 23.7 percent year on year, spurred by huge demand for Aito cars, the marque developed by Seres and tech giant Huawei Technologies, said Wu Dan, head of industrial statistics at the NBS’ Chongqing bureau on April 20.

Changan Automobile outperformed BYD, which was the country’s best-selling carmaker last year, in terms of shipments in the first quarter and the Aito M9 and Aito M7 are also selling well, Feng Lei, deputy director of consultancy firm Firestone’s think tank, told Yicai.

Growth in the vehicle industry also drove up exports. Chongqing’s car exports surged 24.1 percent in the first quarter from a year ago to CNY8.9 billion (USD1.2 billion). And exports of electric cars more than tripled to 14,000 units.

Chongqing is likely to surpass Xi'an in central Shaanxi province in terms of NEV production this year, Feng said. Last year, Xi’an ranked third in the country, behind Shenzhen and Shanghai, with an output of 983,800 autos.

Chongqing will have some catching up to do as it only produced half a million autos in 2023. Guangzhou in southern Guangdong province, Hefei in eastern Anhui province, Changzhou in eastern Jiangsu province and Changsha in central Hunan province all manufactured more.

Chongqing still faces big challenges to move up the rankings, Feng said. Shenzhen-based BYD is expanding capacity at its factories in Hefei and Zhengzhou in central Henan province. Chery Automobile is also making great strides in the electric car field.

It has been reported that Avatar Technology, Changan Auto’s electric car brand, will acquire struggling EV startup HiPhi. If the take-over materializes, it will have a big impact on Chongqing's high-end electric car market, Feng said.

Chongqing’s booming car market spurred the city's added value of industries above a designated size, which refers to those with an annual revenue of at least CNY20 million (USD2.8 million), to expand 8.6 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the city’s official data showed. This is 2 percentage points quicker than 2023’s growth rate. The materials sector expanded 8 percent and the electronics sector by 7.3 percent, it added.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor