Summary: Best-selling foreign brand automobiles in China in April

April proved to be a very good month for foreign manufacturers competing in the Chinese automotive market, with Japanese and American brands performing especially strongly, as German brands continued to post impressive results despite slowing growth rates.

The Volkswagen Lavida was the best-selling German automobile in China in April. A total of 29,277 Lavidas were sold in April; however, that figure is actually down 15.15% year-on-year. The VW Jetta followed just behind with a total of 23,370 units sold in the month, down 20.76% year-on-year. In third place was the VW Tiguan, whose sales totaled 21,602 units, representing positive year-on-year growth of 13.87%. Following behind the Tiguan in order of sales was the VW Sagitar (20,977 units, down 28.35% year-on-year), VW New Santana (17,722 units, down 14.95% year-on-year), VW Bora (16,417 units, up 11.63% year-on-year), VW Magotan (16,163 units, up 29.78% year-on-year), BMW 5 Series (13,898 units, up 15.49% year-on-year), VW Passat (13,193 units, up 14.68% year-on-year) and VW Golf (117,442 units, down 19.58% year-on-year). As can be clearly seen, nine of the top selling models were Volkswagens, with five being sold by FAW-VW and four by Shanghai VW.

Japanese brands performed strongly in April, with six of the top ten best-selling models achieving positive year-on-year sales growth. Among them the Honda Civic’s sales grew a commendable 183.58%. The Nissan Bluebird Sylphy was the best-selling model of the month, with a total 29,683 units sold. Next in line was the Toyota Corolla, sales of which totaled 23,130 units, down 9.78% year-on-year. The Honda CR-V rose from sixth place to third place in the charts, with total sales of 19,714 units, representing year-on-year growth of 22.66%. Just behind was the Nissan Qashqai, sales of which totaled 15,428 units, representing year-on-year growth of 46.28%.

American brands also performed well in April. The Buick New Excelle was once again the best-selling American model of the month, with its sales totaling 32,962 units, up 38.61% year-on-year. In second and third place were the Buick Envision and Ford Escort, whose sales fell 6.41% and 35.37% respectively. The Buick GL8 rose from seventh to fourth place this month with sales of 12,675 units, representing year-on-year growth of 80.66%. The Chevrolet Caliber, which premiered at last year’s Chengdu Auto Show, managed to achieve monthly sales of 10,563 units. It was followed by the Buick Verano (9,510 units sold, up 8.82% year-on-year), Chevrolet Sail hatchback (9,102 units, up 26.86% year-on-year), Focus hatchback (8,774 units, up 18.10% year-on-year), Ford Edge (8,456 units) and Chevrolet New Mondeo (6,950 units).