SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 452,000 small electric vehicles last year, up 160 percent from 2020.

They brought cumulative sales of the Sino-US joint venture's small electric cars to 750,000 units by the end of 2021.

"One of two small electric vehicles sold in China is from Wuling," said the carmaker headquartered in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Of its small electric models, Wuling said the most popular one is the Hongguang MINI EV.

It has been the most popular electric model in China for 16 months in a row, with its cumulative sales hitting 550,000 units by the end of last year.

China is the world's largest market for new energy vehicles which consist of electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

Carmakers in the country sold 3.52 million new energy vehicles in 2021, up 160 percent from 2020, topping the world for seven consecutive years, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Wednesday.