Summary: Chinese sedan market in July 2017

Statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese) show that Chinese sedan sales in July remained at a stable level, albeit having slightly declined from June. A total of 821,141 new sedan sales were made in June. That figure signifies that sedan models accounted for 49.6% of all passenger automobile sales completed during the month, down 2.9 percentage points year-on-year.

German, Japanese and own brand sedan sales all achieved positive year-on-year growth rates in July. Among them, Japanese brand model sales grew the most, increasing 14.3% year-on-year. Japanese sedan sales totaled 201,602 units, ranking second, while own brand sedan sales totaled 141,895 units, having increased just 3.9% year-on-year. German sedans still led the pack, with total sales of 274,041 units, representing year-on-year growth of 5.9%. Just over a third of all new sedan sales in the country over the course of the month were of German models. In fourth place were American sedans, whose sales totaled 133,632 units, down 9.1% from last July.

French and Korean sedan sales still lagged behind. A paltry 11,518 French sedan sales were sold in July, down 55.2% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Korean sales totaled 52,919 units, representing a year-on-year decrease of 29%; however one point worth mentioning is Korean sedan sales still managed to increase a slight amount from the previous month.

A-class size vehicles still accounted for the majority of sedan sales of July, with a total 500,167 units sold; however their combined sales fell 60.9% from 2016, leading to their market share to contract by 9.3 percentage points from June. On the other hand, the A0-class continued to grow, with sales increasing 8.6% year-on-year with a total 97,463 units sold. The B-class and C-class segments also continued to expand, with their sales totaling 161,319 units and 45,849 units respectively. B-class and C-class models’ market shares have increased 32.8 percentage points and 29.8 percentage points from last July.

FAW Volkswagen was the month’s top seller of sedan models in July. It was followed by Shanghai GM, Shanghai VW, Geely, FAW Toyota, Dongfeng Nissan, Beijing Hyundai, Guangqi Toyota, Guangqi Honda and Changan Ford. 

Among the top three, Shanghai VW posted the highest growth rates, with its sedan sales increasing 15.8% year-on-year. FAW-VW led its rivals by a considerable margin, with its new sedan sales totaling 135,876 units, representing year-on-year growth of 17.7%. Second-place ranking Shanghai GM sold 106,070 sedans, representing year-on-year growth of 9.7%.

Geely edged out Dongfeng Nissan and FAW Toyota to finish in the top four. Geely, the top performing own brand manufacturer of sedans, sold a total of 48,375 units, up 41.3% year-on-year.

Changan Ford managed to just make it into the top ten, despite its sales decreasing 45.2% year-on-year. Beijing Hyundai also returned to the top ten, due in large part to the success of the Langdong Excelle and Mistra; however, the JV’s sales also fell 24.4% year-on-year.

The Buick New Excelle continued to top the month’s best-selling sedan sales charts, followed by the Toyota Corolla, VW Sagitar, Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, VW Jetta, VW New Santana, VW Magotan, VW New Polo and Geely Emgrand EC7.

The New Excelle continued to maintain its lead despite seeing its sales decrease 10.5% from last July. It was followed by the Toyota Corolla. 

The Corolla’s sales grew 16.3% year-on-year, totaling 31,577 units. Following behind was the VW Sagitar, which managed to overtake Nissan’s Bluebird Sylphy and fellow VW model Lavida to take third place, managed to achieve monthly sales of 26,033 units. 

Other VW models making the top ten list, including the Lavida, Jetta and New Santana all saw their sales decrease year-on-year; despite that, VW models made up six of the month’s top ten ranking sedans.

The Geely Emgrand EC7 was the best-selling own brand model of the month. Its monthly sales totaled 16,668 units, up 16.4% from last year. A total of 130,195 Emgrand EC7s have been sold since the beginning of the year.