(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) ijing April 09 - China's passenger vehicle sales rose 9 percent year-on-year in March driven by delayed new model launches ahead of the Beijing auto show and a rush to buy before curbs were introduced by the Hangzhou government. There were 1588792 cars sport-utility or multi-purpose vehicles and minivans sold in March figures from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Tuesday. Sales in the first three months of 2014 increased 9.5 percent to 4.6 million vehicles despite a weak February owing to the weeklong Spring Festival holiday. "Passenger vehicle sales dropped a bit in the first week of March" said Rao Da the association's secretary-general. They "gradually picked up until the boom in the final week when the Hangzhou government announced the purchase restrictions for new vehicles in the city". More than 70000 vehicles were ordered in one day in Hangzhou the capital of Zhejiang province after the government announcement on March 25 Rao said. "More than 10 cities are expected to launch similar limitations on vehicle purchases because of traffic and environmental considerations soon so panic buying will add at least 500000 vehicle sales this year" Rao said. "This points to high growth in China's passenger vehicle market for the whole year" Rao added. He predicted a similar sales number for April when more than 300 new model vehicles will be unveiled at the Beijing auto show likely offsetting the impact of there being fewer working days this month according to China's News Agency (Yonhap). "For the whole year the association expects an annual increase of 10 percent in China's overall automobile market and 13 percent in the passenger vehicle sector" Rao said. Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co said on Tuesday that sales in China of its premium Infiniti brand grew 2.53 times in the first quarter to 6158 units compared with 2434 in the same period last year
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