Summary: Chinese sedan market in January 2017

A total of 222 sedan models were available for sale on the Chinese new car market in January, according to statistics compiled by the China Passenger Car Association and reported by Gasgoo.com (Chinese). Sedan sales totaled 1.07 million units, down a slight 3.0% year-on-year.

The Shanghai VW Lavida led the monthly sales charts with a total 52,428 units sold. It was followed by the FAW-VW Jetta and Shanghai GM Buick Excelle, sales of which totaled 43,265 units and 32,548 units, respectively. German brand VW’s strategy of making models specifically tailored to the Chinese market paid off, with five of the top ten best selling sedan models being VWs. American and Japanese brand models managed to get two spots among the top ten. Meanwhile, only one domestic own brand model, Geely’s Emgrand EC7 (pictured below), managed to break into the top ten with total monthly sales of 26,314 units.

German brands dominated over a third of the sedan market in January, with a total of 401,724 units sold, representing year-on-year growth of 8.3%. This success is due in large part to the aforementioned strategy VW has employed of building and selling cars made specifically with the Chinese market in mind.

The Geely Emgrand EC7 remained the most successful own brand sedan model in January. In the own brand charts, it was followed by the Baojun 310 (pictured below), whose affordable price point, exterior design and access to SAIC-GM-Wuling’s expansive sales channels are among its strong points. The model’s sales success is even more commendable when taking into account that both the sedan and compact models have been shrinking over the years. Ranking in third among own brand sedans was Chery’s Arrizo 5, whose sales totaled 15,074 units.

What caught many by surprise was the lackluster performance of the critically praised Geely Borui (pictured below). Sales of the Borui fell an astonishing 32.6% in January, with only a scant 4,042 units sold. Initially, the reason behind this drop in sales is due to the fact that Geely was forced to scale back production of the Borui to satisfy demand for the highly popular Boyue, both of which are made at the manufacturer’s plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang. With its new plant in Baoji, Shaanxi having officially having begun operation in September 2016, limited production capability was no longer an issue. However, sales of the Borui still did not recover. The model’s poor market performance shows that Chinese own brand manufacturers are still noticeably lagging behind their foreign counterparts when competing in the premium sedan segment. Whether or not Chinese manufacturers will be able to reverse this trend remains to be seen.