Summary: Overview of Chinese passenger automobile market in October 2017

Chinese passenger automobile sales in October totaled 2.31 million units, up a slight 0.2% from last October’s total sales volume. The sedan market saw a bit of a relapse over the course of the month, with no sedans making it into the top three best-selling passenger automobile models. Great Wall’s Haval H6 ranked in first with a total 49,000 sales, followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Baojun 510 and Hongguang, monthly sales of which totaled 45,000 units and 42,700 units, respectively. The best-selling sedan of the month, the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, managed to gather 38,500 total sales, representing negative year-on-year growth.

Generally speaking, growth in the passenger automobile market this October compared to the previous month and previous year was conservative. Nine of the top 20 best selling passenger automobile models saw their sales decrease year-on-year. While, 10 models managed to sell at least 30,000 units over the course of the month, only the top three managed to break the 40,000 sales threshold. Models which achieved notably high year-on-year sales growth rates included the Baojun 310, Geely Boyue, VW Tiguan and Chevrolet Cavalier.

A total of 1.11 million sedans were sold in China in October; that figure is 5.5% less than the amount sold last October and also slightly below the amount sold this September. Half of the top 20 best-selling sedan models saw their sales decrease in October.

The Nissan Bluebird Sylphy led the sedan market sales charts; its monthly sales totaled 38,500 units, down 5.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile. VW’s entry-level Jetta and New Santana managed to sustain stead growth; the two models sales for the month totaled 38,200 units and 36,800 units, representing respective year-on-year growth rates of 28.7% and 27.9%. Behind them was the fellow VW Sagitar, whose sales decreased a slight 2.2%. In fifth place was the Buick New Excelle, whose monthly sales of 31,500 units represented a 9.0% sales drop. An upcoming redesign is expected to help turn around the model’s sales performance.

Two domestic own brand models made the top 20 sales chart this month, with the Geely Emgrand EC7, with its total monthly sales of 27,000 units, besting the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 310, whose sales totaled 26,000 units, which was over double its sales volume from a year ago. Aside from the Baojun 310, the Honda Civic, Toyota Levin and Chevrolet Malibu all managed to post impressive year-on-year sales growth rates. Three of the top 20 best-selling sedan models were B-class sedans.

Chinese SUV sales in October totaled 1.03 million units, up 12.3% year-on-year and a slight bit more than September’s total sales volume. The Great Wall Haval H6 led the sales charts with a total 49,000 units sold. The model’s sales were slightly up from September, but still 13.5% less than the amount sold a year ago. Just behind the Haval H6 was the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 510, whose sales totaled 45,000 units, up from both the previous year and previous month. The VW Tiguan continued to climb up the charts, with its sales growing 75.6% year-on-year to total 38,000 units. Geely’s Boyue also performed outstandingly this month, with its sales of 30,100 units representing commendable year-on-year growth of 79.6%. GAC’s Trumpchi GS4 was surpassed by both the Boyue and the SAIC-GM-Wuling Roewe RX5, whose total sales of 28,200 units propelled it into fifth place.

The GAC Trumpchi GS4 and Buick Envision saw their sales volumes decrease by considerable margins in October, while on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Honda CR-V, Geely Emgrand GS, Dongfeng Fengxing Joyear SUV and Hyundai New Santa Fe all posted impressive positive year-on-year sales growth rates.

MPV sales in October totaled 181,000 units, falling 19.4% from a year ago. The SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang continued to lead the market as expected, with its monthly sales totaling 42,700 units. While the Hongguang’s sales continued their downward trend from the previous year, with this month’s year-on-year sales growth rate reaching negative 29.9%, the SUV’s sales still managed to increase from September. In second place was the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 730, whose sales totaled 26,100 units, down 39.3% from last year. In third place with 13,800 sales was the Buick GL8, whose sales volume was level with the previous month and over double the amount from last October.

This month saw the arrival of a new face with BYD’s Song Max to the top 10 sales charts, which the brand has touted as being a representative of its new generation of design language. Debuting in late September, 4,045 Song Max MPVs were sold in October, ranking in tenth place for the month.