Summary: Own brand passenger automobile market in October

Following a nine month decline in sales growth, own brand manufacturers began to recover in October of this year. October marks the second month this year that own brands’ share in the market increased. SAIC-GM-Wuling and Changan Automobile’s exceptional sales performances helped push the own brand market, while sales of several other key own brands also recovered.

According to statistics collected by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), own brand passenger automobile sales growth exceeded the market average. A total of 589,100 own brand passenger automobiles were sold in October. That was equivalent to year-on-year growth of 12.1 percent, slightly higher than the market average of 10.2 percent. Own brands’ share in the passenger automobile market was 36.1 percent by the end of the month, up 0.6 percent from September.

SUVs and minivans were the main drivers behind own brands’ strong performance. A total of 191,500 SUVs and 160,800 minivans were sold over the course of the month, representing year-on-year growth of 66.6 percent and 42.5 percent, respectively. Own brand sedan sales, however, still continue to lag, with only 236,900 units sold over the course of the month, nearly 20 percent less than the amount sold in October 2013.

A total of 4.88 million own brand automobiles have been sold from January to October of this year. The figure represents year-on-year growth rate of 10.2 percent, slightly less than the average market growth rate of 13 percent.

SAIC-GM-Wuling was the best performing domestic company in October; although it is technically a joint venture, most of its sales are of its own brand models. It was followed by Changan, Great Wall, Geely, BYD, Chery, Dongfeng Liuzhou, BAIC, JAC Motors and FAW Car. The top two performers, SAIC-GM-Wuling and Changan contributed to three-fourths of total own brand sales.

SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales grew 41 percent, with total monthly sales of 89,100 units. The Baojun 730 performed especially well, a total of 25,500 vehicles sold. Changan was not far behind, with sales totaling 69,955 units. Changan’s sales grew an exceptional 45.7 percent from last year. Monthly sales of its two top models, the Eado and the new CS75, totaled 15,800 units and 10,700 units, respectively.

Down the line were the traditional own brand powerhouses. Aside from Geely, which is currently undergoing restructuring, the other three manufacturers, Great Wall, BYD and Geely, all experienced reported year-on-year sales growth.

Great Wall’s monthly sales totaled 61,500 units, thanks to the steady performance of the Haval H2. October marked the first month since February that Great Wall achieved positive year-on-year sales growth.

October sales of BYD and Chery totaled 42,000 units and 37,500 units, respectively. The two figures represent slight year-on-year growth of 1.7 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively. Geely, meanwhile, saw its sales in October decrease 18.2 percent, with just 45,600 vehicles sold over the course of the month.

SAIC-GM-Wuling also led the charts for cumulative own brand passenger automobile sales from January to October. It was followed by Changan, Great Wall, Chery, BYD, Geely, Dongfeng Liuzhou, BAIC, FAW Car and JAC.