Summary: Chinese SUV market in July 2017

Chinese passenger automobile sales increased 5.8% in July. A lot of this growth was spurred on by the SUV market. SUV sales totaled 702,912 units, up 18.5% year-on-year. Due to this increase, SUV sales account for 42.4% of all passenger automobile model sales, up 4.5 percentage points from last year.

Own brand SUVs’ growth rates in July were in line with last month. Domestic SUVs account for 57% of all SUVs sold in the country, with a total 400,472 units sold, representing year-on-year growth of 24.5%. 

Japanese brands ranked second in the monthly sales charts, with a total 126,671 units sold; that figure represented year-on-year growth of 23.3%. German SUV sales grew 33.7% over that same period, totaling 79,116 units. In fourth place, with 45,218 units, was American brand SUVs, whose sales only grew a slight 4.4%.

Korean SUV sales continued to plummet in July, with sales of all models aside from the Hyundai Tucson all decreasing year-on-year. Korean SUV sales totaled 17,098 units, down 53.2% year-on-year.

Compact SUVs continued to lead the market in July, accounting for 53.5% of all SUV sales made during the month. A total of 376,376 compact SUVs were sold in July, increasing 15.2% year-on-year. This was followed by small and mid-size SUVs, whose sales totaled 151,738 units and 146,354 units, representing year-on-year increases of 2.4% and 29.2% year-on-year. While the full-size SUV remained small, with only 28,442 units sold, they have increased over four-fold from last July.

Great Wall Motor led Chinese SUV sales in July, followed by Geely, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Dongfeng Nissan, Shanghai VW, GAC Group, Changan Automobile, Dongfeng Honda, Shanghai GM and SAIC Motor. SAIC-GM-Wuling and Changan Automobile rose in the rankings, with the former managing to make the top three. 

Three of the top ten performing enterprises, SAIC, Dongfeng Honda and Shanghai GM, saw their SUV sales decrease year-on-year. Dongfeng Honda has not yet met market expectations following the launch of its next generation CR-V. Meanwhile, aside from the Cadillac XT5, all of Shanghai GM’s sales fell year-on-year. 

Only one of Changan’s SUV models, the CS75, managed to see its sales increase. Third place ranking SAIC-GM-Wuling benefited from the strong performance of its Baojun 510, with monthly sales exceeding 30,000 units. SAIC also did well this month thanks to the popularity of the Roewe RX5. 

The Great Wall Haval H6 led the SUV rankings; it was followed by the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 510, GAC Trumpchi GS4, Geely Boyue, VW Tiguan, Nissan X-Trail, SAIC Roewe RX5, Changan CS75, Honda XR-V and Geely Emgrand GS.

Despite leading the market with a total 37,305 sales, the Haval H6’s sales fell 4.5% year-on-year. The Baojun 510, which performed very strongly, managed to accumulate 33,036 new sales. In third place was the Trumpchi GS4, whose sales totaled 26,329 units; that figure represents a decrease of 4.6% from the previous year. One domestic model whose performance was worth pointing out was the Geely Boyue, whose sales doubled from the previous year, overtaking the VW Tiguan, the month’s best-selling joint venture vehicle. The Tiguan’s monthly sales, which included sales of the Tiguan L, totaled 21,065 units.