Summary: Chery and other own brand manufacturers' performance in the Chinese passenger automobile market

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - Chery looks to once again be China's top performing own brand passenger automobile manufacturer this year. However, as the Anhui-based manufacturer gets ready for its joint ventures with Israel Corporation and Jaguar Land Rover, its competitors are quickly catching up. Furthermore, Chery's growth rates still remain below average market levels.

In 2008, Chery sold a total of 380,800 passenger automobiles, 158,994 units more than second place manufacturer Geely. The following year, BYD's sales grew a full 162 percent, allowing it to surpass both Great Wall and Geely. The difference between Chery and BYD's sales in 2009 was a mere 35,756 units. Chery and other own brand manufacturers were unable to fully duplicate the sales growth BYD experienced that year.

In 2010 and 2011, the gap between Chery and other own brand manufacturers widened again. BYD, which remained the second best selling own brand manufacturer for those two years, sold 98,169 units and 152,248 units less than Chery in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Chery's sales for the two years totaled 618,000 units and 600,700 units, respectively.

Looking at sales reports for the first ten months of 2012, Geely, BYD and Great Wall have all managed to lessen the gap with Chery, whose sales have yet to exceed 100,000 units this year.

On another note, Chery's passenger automobile sales growth rates have not managed to meet average sales growth levels.

In 2008, the Chinese passenger automobile market suffered from the worldwide financial crisis, with year-on-year growth totaling just 6.8 percent. Chery's sales fell 6.5 percent that year.

Policies encouraging new automobile sales helped both Chery and the market as a whole grow over the next two years. Chery's sales increased 36 percent and 27.6 percent in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Market growth rates contracted again in 2011, and have remained at that same level into this year. Chery's performance also followed market trends, falling to negative 2.8 percent in 2011. However, Chery's growth from January to October of this year fell a full 11 percent. The notable drop is linked to decreasing sales of Chery's key models, including the A3, Cowin1, Cowin2 and Cowin3.