Summary: Chinese passenger automobile market in July 2017

A total of 1.65 million passenger automobiles were sold in China over the month of July. The figure is 5.9% higher than the amount sold last July, however many models have seen their sales fall from June. The Great Wall Haval H6 continues to lead the market, despite its sales decreasing year-on-year. Monthly sales of the Haval H6 totaled 37,300 units. In second and third place were the Buick Excelle and SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang, which led their individual segments with 34,400 sales and 34,300 sales, respectively. Only five passenger automobile models managed to accumulate over 30,000 sales in July.

Sedan sales in July totaled 821,000 units. The figure was down 0.1% from the previous year. The Buick Excelle continues to lead the market, with 34,400 units sold; that figure represents year-on-year growth of 10.5%. It was followed by the Toyota Corolla in second, whose sales grew 16.3% year-on-year.

VW saw sales for several of its top-selling models, such as the Lavida, Jetta and New Santana, fall sharply in July. However, the newly released 1.2 liter turbocharged Sagitar helped the manufacturer make up for those decreases; the Sagitar’s sales increased 37.5% year-on-year, making it this July’s third highest selling sedan model, with a total 27,800 units sold.

Two domestic own brand models, the Geely Emgrand EC7 and Geely Vision, ranked among the top 20 best-selling sedans of the month. One Korean sedan, the Hyundai Elantra, also managed to make it into the top 20.

Chinese SUV sales in July totaled 701,800 units, representing an increase of 18.3% year-on-year. Great Wall’s Haval H6 continues to dominate the market, despite its sales having decreased 4.5%. That made the Haval H6 one of only five entries among the top 20 best-selling SUV models whose sales decreased.

SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Baojun 510 continues to follow in second place, with its sales totaling 33,000 units. In third place was GAC’s Trumpchi GS4, sales of which totaled 26,400 units. In fourth place was the Geely Boyue, whose sales have over doubled since last year.

The redesigned Honda CR-V failed to live up to expectations, with only 10,100 units sold in July. It will be interesting to see if the vehicle’s market performance will be able to recover in the upcoming months.

A total 135,550 MPVs were sold in China in July; the figure is 10.5% than the amount sold the previous month. As expected, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Hongguang continues to dominate its competitors, although its sales have been decreasing both from the previous month and the previous year.

In addition to its strong performance in the SUV segment with the 510, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Baojun brand also did well in the MPV market, with the 730 managing to accumulate 13,000 sales over the course of the month. 

Only two foreign branded MPV models, the Buick GL8 and Honda Elysion, managed to make the top 10, with their monthly sales totaling 11,300 units and 4,900 units, respectively.