Over the past few days, investors have clearly liked what they see on Uxin's (UXIN -8.26%) lot. The Chinese operator of used-car dealerships saw its share price accelerate 7% higher week to date as of early Friday morning, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, thanks mainly to an inspiring quarterly earnings report.

Notable improvements in first-quarter fundamentals

The market was cheered by Uxin's first-quarter performance, not least because the auto retailer posted some impressive year-over-year improvements.

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This was led by its revenue, which climbed a very robust 58% year over year to slightly over 504 million yuan ($70 million). That was due in no small part to a more than doubling in Uxin's total number of vehicles sold, which was 8,264 for the period.

The bottom-line result was also satisfying. According to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) standards, Uxin managed to narrow its net loss considerably, to 51.4 million yuan ($7.2 million) from the year-ago deficit of 142.7 million yuan ($19.9 million).

One factor that helped Uxin's fundamentals greatly was its opening of an automobile superstore in the city of Wuhan; this important new outlet for the company began "moving the metal" during the quarter.

More of the same expected

Uxin also proffered very selected guidance for its current (second) quarter, forecasting that the retail transactions that form the great bulk of its sales would come in between 10,000 and 10,500 units (against first-quarter retail sales of 7,545). Total revenue should amount to 630 million yuan ($87.7 million) to 660 million yuan ($91.8 million).

Even at the low end of those ranges, Uxin is set to post significant quarter-over-quarter gains. China's economy could therefore be more robust than its recent reputation might suggest; car sales tend to reflect the general state of a country's financial health.