Summary: Chinese passenger automobile market in August

FAW Volkswagen led the Chinese passenger automobile market in terms of sales volume for the month of August. The Sino-German joint venture was followed by Shanghai GM, Shanghai VW, Beijing Hyundai, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Changan Ford, Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën, Changan Automobile and Dongfeng Yueda Kia.

FAW-VW sold a total of 150,300 vehicles over the course of the month; growing 14.2 percent from the previous year. That result places it ahead of Shanghai GM and Shanghai VW once again. The joint venture has sold 1.19 million vehicles from January to August, equivalent to year-on-year growth of 20.4 percent. That figure is still a few thousand behind of fellow VW-affiliated JV Shanghai VW, which has recently made changes to its manufacturing process.

Second place contender Shanghai GM sold a total of 130,600 vehicles over the course of the month, achieving year-on-year growth of 5.6 percent. 1.07 million vehicles over the first eight months of the year, which is far behind FAW-VW's and Shanghai VW's sales figures from the same period.

Both Beijing Hyundai and Dongfeng Nissan posted lackluster performances for the month. The two JVs respective sales volumes for the month were 84,000 vehicles and 67,200 vehicles. Dongfeng Nissan's sales increased by just 2.6 percent in August, while those of Beijing Hyundai actually decreased 0.1 percent. By comparison, the average year-on-year sales growth rate for the whole of the market was 10.1 percent.

SAIC-GM-Wuling actually performed very strongly in August. Thanks to strong sales of the new Wuling Rongguang S, the JV managed to rake in a total of 72,500 sales, growing 46.8 percent from last year's figure. Similarly, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën and Changan Automobile also benefited from popular new models. The two JVs reported year-on-year sales growth rates of 41 percent and 44.8 percent, respectively.

Changan Ford and Dongfeng Yueda Kia also managed to achieve about average sales growth in August. The former sold a total of 60,600 vehicles, up 13.5 percent from the previous year, while the latter sold 49,000 vehicles, up 16.7 percent. FAW Toyota, which made the top ten list for July, was forced out of this month's standings; the JV sold just 44,100 vehicles in August.