Gasgoo.com (Shanghai March 5) - Although January was not a bad month for Chinese own brand automobile manufacturers, the import automobile market in the country suffered negative growth. According to statistics, Chinese automobile imports fell 13 percent in the month, while import automobile sales decreased 20.8 percent.
Wang Cun, a noted automobile industry analyst, explained the relatively poor performance of the import automobile market in January: “The decrease of SUVs was a major factor, [as] domestic production of many major models have commenced in late 2014 and early 2015.”
Despite this decrease, one import automobile brand performed especially strongly: Chrysler’s Jeep. A total of 19,100 Jeeps were sold in China in January, representing year-on-year growth of 92.2 percent. Jeep’s strong performance led it to become the most successful import automobile brand in the country, the first time the manufacturer has ever achieved such a result in the country.
Mr. Cun summed up Jeep’s performance in the country: “Jeep has been rapidly accelerating its localization for the China market in order to increase its brand recognition and influence in the country.”
