Great Wall Motor Co., China's largest producer of SUVs and crossovers, sold 90,594 vehicles in January, up 2.9 percent year on year as strong crossover sales offset weak demand for sedans and pickups.
The company delivered 74,165 SUVs and crossovers, up 5.9 percent from a year earlier. But sedan volume plunged nearly 20 percent to 6,028 vehicles while pickup deliveries dipped 1.5 percent to 10,401 vehicles.
Overall, Great Wall failed to keep pace with industry sales of light vehicles, which rose 7.7 percent in January. It's a setback for Great Wall, which had outperformed the market last year.
In 2015, the company's deliveries increased 17 percent to 862,693 vehicles, while industry sales rose only 7.3 percent.
But Great Wall was forced to cut prices to gain market share. In June, it reduced prices 3.6 to 5 percent on a range of models after China's auto market entered the doldrums.
Profits lagged accordingly. Earlier this month, Great Wall estimated its net profit last year totaled 8.0 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) - virtually unchanged from 2014.
Profits failed to budge even though company revenue rose 22 percent last year to 76 billion yuan.
Source:Automotive News China