BEIJING -- Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co Ltd announced Friday that 700,000 of its CR-Vs had been sold, the most out of any other medium or high-end SUV model sold in the country.

The Chinese SUV market expanded 20 percent last year, making it the country's second biggest automobile market following that of mid-size cars, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The fourth generation CR-V that came out in late February shoved up sales by a monthly average of 16,000, according to Liu Hong, deputy manager of the Dongfeng Honda Co Ltd, an automaker joint-venture based in central China's Hubei province.

Over 100,000 CR-Vs were sold in the first six months of 2012.

China's auto market has gradually been recovering from a recent downturn that was partly caused by the removal of government incentives.

Car sales rebounded in the second quarter by 10 percent year-on-year, after a 3.9-decline in the first quarter, the CAAM reported.