Summary: The state of the Chinese SUV market in May

Statistics reported on by Gasgoo.com (Chinese) show that total SUV sales in China in the month of May totaled 723,413 units. That figure represents year-on-year growth of 13.5%, which is respectable given the fact that passenger automobile sales as a whole have been declining over the month. SUVs accounted for 42.5% of all passenger automobiles sold, up 5.7 percentage points from the previous year.

Own brands continued to dominate the SUV market, controlling a 55.7% share in the overall SUV market. Own brand SUVs totaled 402,590 units, growing 17.2% year-on-year. The top performing foreign brand SUV manufacturers were Japanese, with their combined monthly sales totaling 126,635 units, representing year-on-year growth of 19.3%. German SUV sales grew 57.6%, totaling 87,018 units, with most of those sales being of VW models, totaling 58,430 units. Italian brand sales grew a full 122.4%, with 19,800 sales coming from Fiat’s Jeep brand. Korean SUV sales, meanwhile, decreased 79%, with only 11,219 units sold.

Compact SUVs accounted for 54.1% of the month’s SUV sales, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous year. Compact SUV sales increased 13.4% year-on-year, totaling 391,530 units. The only segment which decrease in sales was the small SUV segment; small SUV sales totaled 155,710 units, decreasing 10.5% year-on-year. Mid-size and full-size SUV sales totaled 151,115 units and 25,058 units, representing year-on-year sales increases of 32.7% and 522.7%, respectively. The full-size segment greatly benefited from the introduction of new and updated models like the GAC Trumpchi GS8, VW Teramont, Toyota Prado and Changan CS95.

Great Wall Motor led monthly SUV sales by a large margin; it was followed by Shanghai VW, Geely, GAC, Dongfeng Nissan, Shanghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Changan, Dongfeng Honda and SAIC Motor. Most of the manufacturers achieved positive year-on-year sales growth rates, with Geely and SAIC Motor’s growth being especially high, thanks in large part to the popularity of SUVs like the Boyue and RX5. Another new model that performed well was Shanghai VW’s Tiguan L, with a total of 41,331 units sold.

The Great Wall Haval H6 was the month’s best-selling SUV model, followed by the GAC Trumpchi GS4, VW Tiguan, SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 510, Geely Boyue, Buick Envision, Great Wall Haval H3, Honda XR-V, SAIC Roewe RX5 and Nissan Qashqai. Six of those models come from domestic own brand manufacturers, and the majority are compact SUV models.

Sales of the Haval H6, while still undeniably high, fell 5.8% year-on-year. This shift further reduced the gap between it and the GAC Trumpchi GS4, whose sales increased 21.7% over the same time period. 

The VW Tiguan was the best-performing SUV model from a joint venture; its monthly sales totaled 31,362 units, representing year-on-year growth of 71.1%. The Nissan Qashqai also performed strongly, achieving respectable sales growth of 22.3%.