Summary: Overview of SUV sales in China in October

According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 1.02 million SUVs were sold in China over the month of October, representing year-on-year growth of 12.0%. The SUV market was the sole driver of the 0.2% sales growth the overall passenger automobile market achieved over the course of the month. SUVs accounted for 44.2% of all passenger automobiles sold in the country that month, up 4.6 percentage points from October 2016’s figures.

Own brand manufacturers continued to lead the SUV market in October; their combined 631,072 sales, representing year-on-year growth of 10.2%, accounted for 61.6% of all SUVs sold over the course of the month. It was not only major brands like Geely, Baojun and Roewe which achieved high growth rates; even smaller companies like Hawtai and FAW Besturn also posted strong sales increases.

Japanese manufacturers were the most successful foreign multinationals in the SUV market, with their combined monthly sales totaling 150,549 units, up 27.7% from last October but slightly down from this September. They were followed by German brands, whose SUV sales totaled 97,178 units, representing a dramatic increase of 52.7%, albeit also slightly less than September’s results. American SUV sales continued to fall, decreasing by 11.9% to 63,878 units. Korean SUV sales also fell, decreasing 36.5% from the previous year and 12.3% from the previous month. A total of 31,319 Korean SUVs were sold in October. Among the major Korean brands, Beijing Hyundai’s sales fell 14.7%, which was nothing compared to the 66.8% drop that Dongfeng Yueda Kia incurred. French SUV sales, on the other hand, increased a respectable 52.4% to 25,717 units, with Peugeot SUV sales alone increasing a full 83.5%.

The compact SUV segment accounted for 56.4% of all SUVs sold in October; a total of 577,499 compact SUVs were sold in the month, up 9.7% year-on-year. Small SUV sales recovered in October, increasing 4.4% to 225,743 units, while mid-size SUV sales contracted a bit, with only 183,268 units; while that figure was slightly lower than the previous month’s, it still marked positive growth of 9.8% from the previous year. Full-size SUV sales grew over sevenfold in October, resulting in 37,162 units sold.

Great Wall Motor was October’s top seller of SUVs, followed by Geely, Changan, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Shanghai VW, Dongfeng Nissan, GAC Trumpchi, SAIC, Shanghai GM and Dongfeng Honda.

Great Wall’s lead in the SUV segment is indisputable, with the WEY brand’s monthly sales of over 8,000 units managing to make up for the Haval brand’s decreasing sales performance. In second place was Geely, which managed to overtake Changan. Geely has continued to maintain strong sales growth, with its cumulative sales growth for SUV sales from the first ten months of the year having reached 200.4%. Changan also performed well, with the CS55 managing to bring in 14,565 new sales.

Behind them was SAIC-GM-Wuling, which saw mixed results among its models. While sales of the Baojun 510 surpassed the 45,000 unit mark, those of the Baojun 560 fell a sharp 70.5%. Just behind SAIC-GM-Wuling was the Shanghai VW joint venture, whose SUV sales over doubled in October due to the good performance of several of its newly released models. Meanwhile the new Nissan Kicks small SUV greatly helped out Dongfeng Nissan with its 10,392 units sold. Guangqi Trumpchi finished in seventh place in the charts, with all of its models other than the Trumpchi GS8, which accumulated 10,006 monthly sales, putting forth rather lackluster market performances.

SAIC’s ranking in the charts increased due to the strong performance of the Roewe RX5, which has managed to maintain its 20,000-plus monthly sales. The performance of the new Roewe RX3 this month was a little underwhelming, with only 1,546 units sold. Shanghai GM saw sales of its SUV models drop, aside from the newly released Chevrolet Equinox, whose sales totaled 6,005 units, and the Cadillac XT5, which achieved 53.7% sales growth. Dongfeng Honda, which sold a total of 29,846 SUVs in October, also saw mixed results from its models, with sales of the CR-V increasing 85.3% year-on-year, while those of the XR-V fell 47.7% year-on-year.

The Great Wall Haval H6 was once again the month’s best selling SUV model; it was followed by the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 510, VW Tiguan, Geely Boyue, Changan CS75, GAC Trumpchi GS4, SAIC Roewe RX5, Buick Envision, Nissan X-Trail and Dongfeng Fengguang 580.

Despite leading the market once again, the Haval H6 continued to see its sales fall; its sales decreased 13.5% year-on-year to 49,015 units. By comparison, sales of the Baojun 510 increased from last month, finishing at 45,047 units, just a few thousand units behind the Haval H6. Finishing in third place with a stead sales performance was the VW Tiguan, whose sales totaled 37,971 units.

October marked the first month the Geely Boyue broke the 30,000 sales barrier, with themodel achieving respectable sales growth of 79.6%. Behind it was the Changan CS75, sales of which grew 7.1%.

The GAC Trumpchi GS4, which is clearly in need of a redesign, continued to see its sales decline in October, falling 26.3% year-on-year. Worth mentioning is the performance of the Dongfeng Fengguang 580, which managed to make the top 10 this month due to its impressive sales performance. The Fengguang 580 has been warmly received for its understated design and advanced features.