Chinese luxury automobile market in August

Chinese passenger automobile sales fell again in August, marking the third consecutive month sales decreased. In line with overall market trends, the luxury automobile segment’s sales growth rates also fell in August. Both the top tier German manufacturers’ sales and those of second-tier manufacturers were affected.

According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), the best-selling luxury automobile brands in China were Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo, Cadillac, Porsche, Infiniti and Citroën DS. Worth noting is that Lexus has yet to release its sales figures for the month.

The ‘big three’ of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz continue to lead the Chinese passenger automobile market. Of the 141,418 luxury automobiles sold by the top nine luxury automobile manufacturers in August, 114,273 were made by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Competition among the three manufacturers still remains very fierce.

Audi sold a total of 45,196 vehicles in August, down 4.1% from the 47,145 vehicles sold a year ago. Despite the decline in sales, Audi still leads the segment, making up nearly a third of all luxury automobiles sold in the country. Audi plans to build on this success by releasing over ten new models in the first half of 2016.

August marked the fourth consecutive month that BMW’s Chinese sales fell. A total of 36,314 BMWs were sold in August, down 1.4% from a year ago. A total of 301,539 BMWs have been sold in the country from January to August year. The year 2015 is the first time that BMW has managed to sell over 300,000 vehicles in the first eight months of a year.

In contrast to Audi and BMW, Mercedes-Benz actually managed to achieve high sales growth in August. The manufacturer’s sales jumped a full 53.1%, totaling 32,763 units. Mercedes-Benz has contributed from optimization of its sales channels and the introduction of popular new models. Thanks to its strong performance in China, Mercedes-Benz has gone on to become the second largest luxury automobile manufacturer in terms of global sales, succeeded only by BMW.

Among the second tier of luxury automobile manufacturers, sales of brands like Jaguar Land Rover and Citroën DS have decreased dramatically, while those of Infiniti have rapidly shot up.

Jaguar Land Rover’s sales in August totaled 6,952 units, down a full 31.2% from the 10,104 units sold last August. A total of 57,807 Jaguar Land Rover vehicles were sold from January to August, down 28.8% from the amount sold over the first eight months of 2014. Despite its increasingly poor performance in the Chinese market, Jaguar Land Rover’s sales worldwide increased 22.6% from 9,732 vehicles sold last August to 11,929 units this August.

Citroën DS is another luxury brand whose automobile sales have fallen sharply from August 2014 to August 2015. A total of 1,616 DS vehicles were sold this August, down 32.5% from last year.

Volvo also suffered negative sales growth in August. Volvo’s sales in August totaled 5,574 vehicles, down 10% from a year ago. This is the first time in recent history that Audi has suffered negative sales growth rates in the double digits.

By contrast, Infiniti posted very strong positive sales growth in August. Infiniti’s sales increased a full 50.9% in August, totaling 3,056 units. Cadillac and Porsche also posted positive sales growth in August. Their respective monthly sales totaled 5,126 units and 4,821 units, representing positive sales growth of 11.1% and 17.7%.