Summary: Chinese passenger automobile market in May

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), FAW Volkswagen was the leading passenger automobile manufacturer in China by sales, followed by Shanghai VW, Shanghai GM, Beijing Hyundai, Dongfeng Nissan, Changan Ford, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Changan Automobile and Dongfeng Yueda Kia.

Changan Automobile remains the only entry in the monthly top ten charts. With the help of new models, Changan was able to maintain very strong sales growth; the manufacturer's sales totaled 56,400 units in May, up 38.6 percent from last year. Changan sold a total of 301,600 vehicles from January to May, representing year-on-year sales growth of 38 percent.

On the other side of things, for yet another month, Great Wall Motor failed to break into the top ten, with its sales continuing to fall. The manufacturer's monthly sales totaled 40,600 units, down 18.2 percent from last year. The gap between Great Wall and Changan continued to expand this month. This fall has been attributed to the poor performance of the manufacturer's sedan division, which only managed to sell 4,643 units. However, Great Wall's SUV sales continued to maintain positive year-on-year growth. A total of 36,000 Great Wall SUVs were sold over the course of the month, representing growth of 12 percent.

As for joint ventures, FAW-VW once again managed to surpass rivals Shanghai VW and Shanghai GM to become the country's leading passenger automobile manufacturer for the third month in a row. FAW-VW's passenger automobile sales grew 30 percent in May with a total of 160,600 units; by comparison, Shanghai VW and Shanghai GM's monthly sales totaled 145,300 units and 136,000 units, representing year-on-year growth of 24.8 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively.

FAW-VW is still trails behind Shanghai VW for cumulative sales for the first five months of the year. The former's sales totaled 753,500 units, representing year-on-year growth of 24.7 percent, compared to 806,000 units and year-on-year growth of 23.8 percent for the latter. Shanghai GM sold a total of 689,700 vehicles over the same period of time, equivalent to year-on-year growth of only seven percent and far behind the two VW-partnered JVs.

Beijing Hyundai managed to retake the fourth place spot from Dongfeng Nissan this month. The former's monthly passenger automobile sales totaled 91,000 units, up 10.3 percent from the previous year, while the latter's sales totaled 83,100 units and achieved year-on-year growth of 9.3 percent.

Changan Ford, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën, SAIC-GM-Wuling and Dongfeng Yueda Kia rounded up the list, with the former three boasting high year-on-year growth rates of over 30 percent.