Summary: Sedan sales in China in October 2017

The Chinese sedan market continued to contract in October, with total sales having decreased by 5.0% year-on-year. According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 1.11 million sedans were sold in October, accounting for 47.9% of all passenger automobile sales made in the country, up 2.7 percentile points. Combined sedan sales over the first ten months of this year were 1.5% less than the same time period from the previous year.

Looking at individual segments, own brand manufacturers’ performance in the sedan market has been especially interesting. While they performed exceptionally well last month, this month their performance has been kind of a letdown, resulting in them losing their top three position in the sales charts. Own brand sedan sales fell 14.1% year-on-year, with a total of 202,395 units sold.

German manufacturers continued to dominate the sedan segment in October, constituting 32.5% of all sedans sold; German sedan sales totaled 360,089 units, down 0.4% from last October and nearly 40,000 units less than the amount sold this November. Japanese brands ranked second in the charts, with 221,039 units sold over the course of the month, representing slight year-on-year growth of 1.1%. Just behind in third place were American brands, sales of which totaled 202,899 units, up 4.5% year-on-year.

On the opposite end of the spectrum were Korean and French manufacturers, whose sedan sales continued to fall in October. Korean and French sedan sales totaled 91,202 units and 24,577 units, representing negative year-on-year growth rates of 17.6% and 42.7%, respectively. 

The A-class sedan segment accounted for 63.1% of all sedan sales in October. A-class sedan sales for this month totaled 700,019 units, around 50,000 units less than September’s figure and representing a 9.1% drop year-on-year. Meanwhile, A0-class and B-class sedan sales totaled 144,308 units and 176,254 units, representing year-on-year drops of 1.8% and 7.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, C-class sedan sales increased 12.9%, totaling 53,288 units, while A00 sedan sales totaled 35,346 units, over doubling from the previous year.

FAW Volkswagen led the sedan market in October, followed by Shanghai GM, Shanghai VW, Dongfeng Nissan, Changan Ford, Geely, Beijing Hyundai, Guangqi Honda, FAW Toyota and Dongfeng Yueda Kia. Among the top three, Shanghai VW’s sales fell 13.8% to 138,182 units, forcing it to fall behind FAW-VW and Shanghai GM. By comparison, FAW-VW and Shanghai GM’s sales increased 8.3% and 7.7%, totaling 178,919 units and 143,361 units, respectively.

Dongfeng Nissan and Changan Ford retained their the fourth and fifth spots in October. The former’s monthly sales totaled 67,835 units, down 2.3% year-on-year, while the latter’s sales totaled 59,538 units, down 2.4% year-on-year.

Geely was the month’s top performing own brand sedan manufacturer, with its sedan sales totaling 57,718 units, down 1.6% year-on-year. It was followed by Beijing Hyundai, whose sales totaled 55,541 units, down 9.4% year-on-year. Behind that was FAW Toyota, which was one of the only manufacturers on the chart to see its sedan sales increase; the JV achieved sales growth of 20.8%, totaling 38,761 units. The JV’s performance was due in large part on the success of the Toyota Corolla, whose sales increased 44.7%.

The Nissan Bluebird Sylphy was the month’s best-selling sedan model. It was followed by the VW Jetta, VW New Santana, VW Sagitar, Buick New Excelle, Ford Focus, VW Bora, SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 310, Toyota Corolla and Geely Emgrand EC7. 

The difference between the number one and number two entries was very small this month. The Bluebird Sylphy, sales of which totaled 38,514 units, led the Jetta, sales of which totaled 38,157 units. The Bluebird Sylphy’s sales grew 5.3%, while those of the Jetta increased 28.7%. Just behind was another VW entry-level sedan, the New Santana, whose sales totaled 36,831 units, representing year-on-year growth of 27.9%. 

Further down the rankings, the Sagitar, New Excelle, Focus, Bora and other JVs all saw their sales decreased by different levels. The Corolla was the exception, with its sales totaling 25,937 units.

Among own brand models, the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 310 managed to surpass the Geely Emgrand EC7 to take the eighth place spot, with 25,983 units sold, over double from last year’s sales volume. The Emgrand EC7 finished in tenth place, with its sales totaling 24,813 units, down a slight 0.8% from the previous year.

The VW Lavida, which was the previous month’s best selling sedan model, failed to make it into the top 10, ranking in 12th place 21,377 units sold, down 49.6% year-on-year.