Chinese small sedan segment in May

The small sedan segment in China continues to go through a rough patch, as recent sales figure show. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 135,633 small sedans were sold in China in the month of May. That figure is 17.2% less than the amount sold last May. At the same time, the total proportion of sales in the Chinese automotive market that were of small sedans also fell, decreasing from 16.3% last May to 14.9% this May.

The amount of domestic own brand small sedan models sold this May totaled 33,610 units, down 33.2% from the 50,326 units sold a year ago. As a result, the market share controlled by own brand manufacturers also decreased to under 30% this year, with just 24.8% of all small sedans sold being made by own brands. The decline in sales was not only due to changing consumer preferences, but also due to the lack of attention own brands as a whole have been giving to the small sedan segment in general.

This month saw Japanese’ brands combined share in the small sedan market surpass own brands. However, Japanese brands’ combined sales volume of 41,077 units was 3.6% less than the amount sold last year. This fall in sales occurred despite the success of Japanese models like the Honda New Fit, whose monthly sales over tripled from last year.Sales of Korean and American small sedans also fell from last May to this May. 27,683 Korean small sedans and 16,880 American small sedans were sold in May, representing sales decreases of 17.5% and 35.9% respectively. Only German brands saw their overall small sedan sales increase during the course of the month. A total of 10,160 German branded small sedans were sold in May, up 61.2% from last year’s sales volume.

The Chevrolet New Sail was the month’s best-selling small sedan. It was followed by the Hyundai Accent, VW Polo, Kia K2, Toyota Vios, Honda New Fit, Changan Yuexiang, Toyota Yaris, Geely MK and Changan CX20.

Only three own brand models made the charts this year, with none of them managing to sell over 10,000 units. The most successful own brand small sedan remained the Changan Yuexiang, whose sales increased by 67.1%. The Geely MK and Changan CX20 did not perform nearly as well, with their sales falling 27.7% and 32.5%, respectively.

The New Sail has led the sales charts for the segment since this March. Its total sales of 15,316 units put it slightly ahead of the Accent, which finished in second place in the charts. However, when looking at cumulative sales results for the first five months of the year, the New Sail, with total sales of 94,286 units, lags slightly behind the Accent, whose sales totaled 100,103 units. Both the New Sail and Accent suffered negative sales growth of around 21% this month.

The three Japanese models on the top ten chart all achieved positive sales growth of varying degrees. While not being able to match the New Fit’s exemplary growth, sales of the Vios and Yaris still grew commendable amounts, with their sales growth rates totaling 16.3% and 6.7, respectively.