BEIJING, March 8 (Reuters) - China's passenger vehicle sales rose 16.3% over January-February from the same period a year earlier, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Friday.

Sales totalled 3.16 million cars, having risen 57.1% on year in January and fallen 21.6% in February, association data showed.

The shifted timing of China's Lunar New Year holiday - which fell in February this year but January last year - results in swings in monthly data during the first two months of the year. (Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Sarah Wu; Editing by Christopher Cushing)