Summary: Chinese sedan market in August 2017

Sedan sales in China continued to slightly increase in August. However cumulative sales from January to August were still less than the previous year. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), Chinese sedan sales in August totaled 939,102 units, up 2.4% year-on-year. Sedans accounted for 50.7% of all passenger automobiles sold during the month, down 1.5 percentage points year-on-year.

American brands managed to squeeze into the top three this month, overtaking domestic own brand manufacturers. As usual, German and Japanese manufacturers dominated the sedan market. German sedan sales totaled 320,668 units, representing year-on-year growth of 6.8%, while Japanese sedan sales totaled 202,290 units, increasing a full 9.2% year-on-year. American sedan sales, which totaled 171,310 units, representing year-on-year growth of 4.8%, were just a bit more than the 165,485 own brand sedans sold, a figure that was 5.9% higher than last year’s sales volume.

Korean and French sedan sales continued to decline in August. Korean sales, which totaled 57,606 units, fell 27.6%, while French sales, which totaled 15,531 units, decreased 47.6%.

The A-class segment accounted for 64.2% of all passenger automobiles sold in August, down 1.9 percentage points from last year. A-class sedan sales totaled 602,967 units. Meanwhile, A0-class sedan sales grew 11.1%, totaling 101,503 units. B-class and C-class sedan sales also increased, totaling 166,865 units and 44,524 units, respectively. While they both increased year-on-year, C-class sedan sales fell slightly from July, while B-class ones only marginally increased.

FAW Volkswagen continued to lead the sedan market by a considerable margin in August; the JV was followed by Shanghai GM and Shanghai VW, rounding out the top three. Further behind were Dongfeng Nissan, Changan Ford, Geely, Beijing Hyundai, FAW Toyota, Guangqi Honda and Guangqi Toyota. 

FAW-VW continued to grow its immense lead over its competitors in August; its total monthly sales of 162,112 units represented year-on-year growth of 13.8%. Second place Shanghai GM continued achieved minor positive sales growth of 3.4%, while the last of the big three, Shanghai VW, saw its sales decrease 4.7%. Their respective sales totals for the month were 117,135 units and 115,075 units.

Dongfeng Nissan returned to the number four spot, while Geely fell out of the top five. This was despite Geely’s sedan sales being 65.8% higher this August than they were last August. In fifth place was Changan Ford, whose sales almost doubled from last month. The JV sold a total of 54,175 units, up 8% year-on-year.

Beijing Hyundai’s year-on-year sales decrease of 22.9% was the largest among the top ten ranking manufacturers.

The Buick New Excelle was once again August’s best-selling sedan model with total sales of 36,418 units, representing year-on-year growth of 10.9%; it was followed by the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, VW Lavida, VW Sagitar, Ford Family, Toyota Corolla, VW New Bora, VW New Santana and Geely Emgrand EC7.

Just behind the New Excelle in sales was Nissan’s Bluebird Sylphy. Sales of the Sylphy totaled 35,565 units, representing year-on-year growth of 26.9%. Not far behind were three VW models: the Jetta, the Lavida and the Sagitar.

The Toyota Corolla, which was last month’s runner up in terms of sales, fell to the seventh place spot this month; its total monthly sales of 25,693 units represented a year-on-year decrease of 10.2%.

Only one own brand sedan model managed to make the top ten in August. That was the Geely Emgrand EC7, whose sales totaled 16,752 units. Despite its sales growth of 23.9%, it still is quite far behind its JV rivals.