Summary: Chinese SUV market from January to April

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 856,000 domestically manufactured SUVs were sold in China from January to April. The figure is equivalent to year-on-year growth of 42.6 percent, far above the average growth rate of 20 percent that the passenger automobile market as a whole experienced. 224,700 SUVs were sold in the country last month alone, up 43.5 percent from last April.

Although the SUV segment as a whole experienced positive year-on-year growth from January to April, sales of Japanese SUVs fell during the time period. Japanese manufacturers' sales volumes in China have still not recovered from the Diaoyu Island incident last autumn. Only 166,600 Japanese SUVs were sold in the country during the four-month period, around ten percent less than the 185,300 Japanese SUVs sold between January 2012 and April 2012. Japanese manufacturers accounted for less than 20 percent of all SUV sales made during the first four months of the year.

The sales lost by Japanese manufacturers were picked up by both own brand enterprises and other foreign competitors. Especially worth noting is the increase in market share held by Korean manufacturers from 12.5 percent to 15.2 percent, surpassing the amount controlled by German manufacturers. Korean manufacturers' SUV sales nearly doubled from the first four months of 2012 to the first four months of this year. Korean manufacturers were helped by the release of the new Hyundai Santa Fe and continued popularity of the ix35, whose sales grew 72.4 percent. German brand SUV sales from January to April totaled 117,700 units.

New domestically manufactured SUV offerings from American and French manufacturers were introduced to the Chinese market late last year and this year, respectively. Sales of American and French SUVs for the four month period totaled 59,800 units and 16,400 units, respectively.

Great Wall Motor sold the most SUVs from January to April, followed by Beijing Hyundai, Shanghai Volkswagen, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, FAW Toyota, Dongfeng Nissan, Chery Automobile, FAW Volkswagen and Shanghai General Motors. Great Wall's SUV sales exceeded 122,700 units, nearly double the amount from a year ago. Great Wall was the manufacturer the only one to sell over 100,000 SUVs during the four month period. Meanwhile, Beijing Hyundai's SUV sales over doubled from the first four months of last year to this year.

By comparison, FAW Toyota, Dongfeng Nissan and Chery's sales all decreased, with Dongfeng Nissan's sales falling over 30 percent.

68,600 VW Tiguans were sold from January to April, making it the most successful SUV model for the four-month time period. It was followed in sales volume by Great Wall's Haval H5, Dongfeng Honda's CR-V, Beijing Hyundai's ix35, Great Wall's Haval M4, FAW Toyota's RAV4, Dongfeng Nissan's Qashqai, Chery's Tiggo, BYD's S6 and FAW Audi's Q5. Year-on-year sales growth rates for the former four models were all positive, while those of the latter five were negative.

The ix35 and Haval H6's year-on-year growth rates for the four month period reached 80.5 percent and 64.6 percent, respectively. In addition to the H6, Great Wall's strong performance was also attributed to high sales of its newly released M4, which made its market debut last May.

By comparison, sales of key Japanese SUV models decreased, with year-on-year growth rates for the RAV4 and Qashqai reaching negative 14.9 percent and negative 30 percent, respectively.