Summary: Chinese passenger automobile market in March

Official statistics outlining Chinese passenger automobile sales in March have recently been released by the China Passenger Car Association.

A total of 2.01 million passenger automobiles were sold in March, up 2.7% from the 1.95 million automobiles sold last March. The SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang continues to be the country’s best selling vehicle, with sales of over 50,000 units over the course of the month. With sales of over 47,000 units, the VW Lavida surpassed Great Wall’s Haval H6 to rank second in the sales charts. 

A total 986,800 sedans were sold in the month, down 4.7% year-on-year. Although the VW Lavida was the month’s best-selling sedan, its sales performance was still 7.1% less than the amount sold the previous year. Finishing second place was the Buick Excelle, sales of which totaled 35,400 units; that figure represented year-on-year growth of 25.6%. The Nissan Bluebird Sylphy was just behind, with monthly sales of 33,900 units. The Toyota Corolla also managed to achieve sales of over 30,000 units, with a total 31,100 units sold.

Strongly performing own brand models included the Geely Emgrand EC7 (20,500 units sold), BYD F3 (17,700 units), SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 310 (16,100 units), Changan Eado (11,700 units), Chery Arrizo 5 (11,200 units) and Geely Vision (11,100 units).

SUV sales in March totaled 830,900 units, representing year-on-year growth of 20.3%. The Great Wall Haval H6 continues to lead the segment, despite its sales falling 13.0% year-on-year. The GAC Trumpchi GS4 and VW Tiguan ranked second and third on the charts, with respective monthly sales of 30,100 units and 27,900 units. Several new domestic models, like the Dongfeng Fengguang 580, SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 510 and SAIC-GM-Wuling Roewe RX5, also performed strongly, all ranking among the top ten best-selling SUV of the month. 

MPV sales in March totaled 195,100 units; that figure is 16.4% less than the amount of sales recorded the previous March. Despite a 6.1% decrease in sales, the SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang continues to dominate the segment by a considerable margin. In second place was the Hongguang’s fellow model, the Baojun 730. Baojun 730 sales totaled 28,900 units, representing year-on-year growth of 2.9%. Sales of the Changan MPVs, the Honor and Oushang, totaled 16,500 units and 12,900 units, respectively. The most successful foreign brand MPV was the Buick GL8, whose sales totaled 10,700 units, achieving year-on-year sales growth of over 60%.