China’s midsize sedan market in May

While the SUV and minivan segments in China have experienced strong sales growth in May, the sedan segment has yet to recover. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 909,995 sedans were sold in the country during the month, 9.7% less than the amount sold last May. Although it performed better than the rest of the sedan market, the midsize car segment was berated by heavy competition and declining sales. Midsize sales for the country totaled 154,849 units, down 5.9% from last year.

The Volkswagen Passat was the month’s best-selling midsize, followed by the VW Magotan, Hyundai Mistra, Honda Accord, Nissan New Teana, Toyota Camry, Ford Mondeo, Buick Regal, Hyundai Sonata and Buick LaCrosse. Sales of half of those models suffered negative year-on-year growth. Only one of the models making the list was newly released.

Although two of its models made the list, VW suffered negative year-on-year sales growth in May. The Passat led the segment with a monthly sales total of 20,647 units. That figure, however, represents a negative year-on-year decline of 4.6%. Ranked number two, sales of the Magotan totaled 12,669 units sold, a full 30.3% less than the amount sold last year.

By comparison, Hyundai’s sales performance was much stronger. The Mistra ranked third in the sales charts with a total of 12,322 units sold, moving up from its fourth place position last year. The Mistra achieved sales growth of 11.0%. As the only new model on the charts, the Sonata’s performance was commendable, with a total of 6,517 units sold during the course of the month.

Japanese brands’ overall performance in the sedan market was the best among foreign companies. However, while the Honda Accord achieved strong sales growth of 53.7%, sales of the Nissan New Teana only increased a mere 2.4% and sales of the Toyota Camry actually fell a full 31.7%.

Sales performances of Buick’s top-selling midsize markets were similarly spit, with sales of the Regal decreasing 7.7%, while those of the LaCrosse grew 30.2%.

The sales volume of the Mondeo this May was just slightly less than figures recorded the same time last year. A total of 9,011 Mondeos were sold this May, compared to 9,091 units sold last year.