• Chery Auto sold 262,990 vehicles in August, including 187,154 exports, which accounted for 71.2% of the total.
• The Chery brand maintained growth and iCar and Luxeed posted triple-digit gains, while Jetour and Exeed continued to decline.

Chery Auto (HKEX: 9973) sold 262,990 vehicles in August, up 13.97% year-on-year, with overseas markets remaining its main sales pillar, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Tuesday.

Exports totaled 187,154 vehicles in August, accounting for 71.16% of total sales and falling 4.66% from July. Sales in China totaled 75,836 vehicles, up 15.67% from July.

Chery Auto sold 113,262 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in August, accounting for 43.07% of its total sales.

In the first 8 months of the year, Chery Auto sold 1,799,942 vehicles, up 10.89% year-on-year.

By brand, the core Chery brand sold 187,426 vehicles in August, up 16.1% year-on-year and accounting for 71.27% of the listed company's total sales.

The brand sold 1,289,455 vehicles in the first 8 months, up 24.13% year-on-year.

iCar sold 10,229 vehicles, up 112.22% year-on-year and 12.8% from July.

Luxeed sales surged 404.2% to 8,561 vehicles. However, the brand's cumulative sales in the first 8 months still fell 22.6% to 38,615 vehicles.

Two other brands remained under pressure. Jetour sales fell 5.36% to 51,277 vehicles, while Exeed sales dropped 36.22% to 5,497 vehicles.

Jetour's cumulative sales fell 10.64% in the first 8 months, while Exeed's declined 37.79%.

On the broader Chery Group basis, August sales reached 280,128 vehicles, up 15.4% year-on-year. Chery Auto contributed about 93.9% of the total.

Chery Group exported 196,984 vehicles in August, up 52.14% year-on-year. Its NEV sales rose 69.8% to 120,909 vehicles, exceeding 100,000 units for the fifth consecutive month.

Overseas markets remained the main driver of the group's growth. Exports accounted for 70.32% of August sales, up from 53.34% a year earlier.

Based on those figures, Chery Group's domestic sales in August were 83,144 vehicles, down about 26.6% year-on-year but up about 12% from July.

In the first 8 months, Chery Group sold 1,914,481 vehicles, up 10.84% year-on-year.

Cumulative exports rose 68.16% to 1,343,334 vehicles during the period, while NEV sales increased 46.2% to 725,214 vehicles.

The group's domestic sales during the period were about 571,000 vehicles, down about 38%, further indicating that its growth remained largely dependent on overseas markets.

By the end of August, Chery Group's cumulative exports had reached 7.18 million, making it the first Chinese automaker to surpass the 7 million mark.

Europe is a key market for its overseas growth. From January through July, Chery sold more than 208,000 vehicles across 24 European countries, up 201% year-on-year.

NEV sales exceeded 101,000 vehicles during the period, up more than 330% year-on-year.

Chery said the Jaecoo 7, Jaecoo 5 and Omoda 5 had each appeared among the 10 best-selling models in the UK this year.

By the end of August, Chery Group had more than 20.44 million users worldwide, including over 7.18 million overseas.

($1 = 6.7829 yuan)