China SUV market expected to stabilize after slower growth rate

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- According to data compiled by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute, China’s passenger vehicle sales reached 1.834 million, up 2.5% percent compared with 1.79 million in the same period last year, but down 0.8% compared with 1.85 million in the previous month. In the first half of 2018, China’s consumers bought 5.7% more passenger cars than a year earlier. Here, the passenger vehicle covers sedan, SUV and MPV.

In June, the SUV sales saw year-on-year decline against the overall market sales growth. 746,100 customers received their new SUV models in June, 0.9% less than that of the same period in 2017. In the first six months, the SUV sales increased by 6.3%, much slower than 16.8% of the same period last year. Besides, the segment’s market share has been decreasing for four consecutive months to 40.4% in June.

As to the slower year-on-year growth rate of the SUV segment, Gasgoo conducted a survey among our industry users. Nearly 90% survey respondent agreed that the growth rate will continue to slow down and will stabilize in the future while a small part thought the slower rate will be reversed.

It is inevitable for the growth rate to become slower on the basis of increasingly bigger cardinal number. The SUV segment will tend to stabilize because of the overall market’s slower growth rate and the fuel consumption policy. According to Gasgoo’s forecast, the compound annual growth rate will decrease to 3.2% from 2018 to 2020 and will be 1.5% between 2021 to 2025.