Summary: Chinese luxury automobile market in July 2014

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - China's luxury automobile market has managed to maintain strong sales growth in July. Sales growth rates of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles remained in the double digits, while those of second-tier brands like Cadillac and Infiniti were even higher.

Audi not only led the luxury brand segment in July sales, it managed to post commendable sales growth of 15.6 percent. Its 48,300 monthly sales volume was 41,800 higher than amount it sold in July 2013.

By comparison, BMW sold a total of 36,900 BMW and Mini vehicles in July, up 14.6 percent from the amount it sold a year ago. Mercedes-Benz's monthly Chinese sales totaled 20,900 units, up 12.6 percent from a year ago.

However, Audi's sales growth for the January to July time period lagged behind those of its German competitors. While Audi sold 316,900 vehicles, its year-on-year sales growth was 17.4 percent, behind BMW's 21.8 percent and Mercedes-Benz's 33.5 percent.

Growth rates for second-tier luxury automobile manufacturers was even higher. Infiniti's sales for the January to July period over doubled from a year ago, while Cadillac's year-on-year sales growth for the same period reached 69.3 percent. However, it is important to remember that sales of second-tier manufacturers are nowhere near those of leaders Audi and BMW.