2015 H1 sales completion rates for automotive manufacturers in China

Early in the year, major automotive manufacturers set their sales targets for 2015. Now with half of the year already past, there are a few manufacturers that are smoothly on the way to achieving those targets, while the rest are still far behind.

According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), only four manufacturers, Changan, Geely, Chery and JAC, have managed to achieve at least half of their 2015 sales goals by June.

Shanghai VW led Western brands, having achieved 49.4% of its annual sales goal of 1.9 million automobiles. The joint venture sold a total of 939,000 automobiles over the first half of the year, a slight 0.2% less than the amount sold a year ago. Shanghai VW’s top-selling models were the Lavida, Santana, Tiguan and Passat. With the release of the New Santana and Gran Santana, it shouldn’t be difficult for the joint venture to achieve its annual sales target.

Fellow VW-affiliated joint venture FAW-VW has only managed to achieve 43.5% of its annual sales goal. Its sales volume for the first six months of the year was a full 11.3% less than the amount it sold over the first half of 2014. However, despite this setback it shouldn’t be too hard for the joint venture to achieve its fairly conservative sales target of 1.85 million units.

Due to the strong performances of the Focus and Kuga, Changan Ford has managed to achieve year-on-year sales growth of 7.3%, selling a total of 430,000 vehicles over the first half of the year. However, that figure only accounts for 43% of its annual sales target of one million vehicles.

By comparison, Shanghai GM’s total sales of 789,000 vehicles means that it has only completed 41.5% of its annual sales target of 1.9 million vehicles. Whether Shanghai GM can fully complete its sales target by the end of the year remains to be seen.

Korean-affiliated JVs Beijing Hyundai and Dongfeng Yueda Kia have both suffered negative year-on-year sales growth over the first half of the year. Their respective sales totals for the first six months of the year were 510,000 units and 303,000 units. Those two figures account for 44% and 40.4% of Beijing Hyundai and Dongfeng Yueda Kia’s respective sales targets.

Among Japanese-affiliated JVs, Guangqi Honda has managed to perform fairly well. The JV sold a total of 245,000 vehicles over the first half of the year, accounting for 47% of its total sales target for the year. By comparison Dongfeng Honda sold only 168,000 vehicles over the first half of the year, accounting for just over a third of its annual sales target. Fellow Japanese-affiliated JV sold 270,000 vehicles over that same time period, up 7.6% from the previous year. That growth was mainly due to the strong performance of the Corolla, which made up 42% of the JV’s total sales.

While market growth as a whole has begun to slow down, domestic own brand manufacturers continued to post impressive results this year. All of the manufacturers which managed to complete their sales targets for the first half of the year were own brands. They also managed to report strong sales growth rates.

Changan led the pack with first half sales of 522,000 vehicles, up 45.9% from the previous year. That figure means that Changan has already completed 69.6% of its annual sales target with only half of the year gone by. Changan should have no problem completing its sales goal of 750,000 vehicles.

Fellow own brands Geely, Chery and JAC have completed 56.7%, 53.5% and 53.5% of their respective sales targets for the year. Likewise, SAIC-GM-Wuling and Great Wall have completed 49.3% and 48.9% of their sales targets. It shouldn’t be too hard for these manufacturers to complete their individual sales targets this year.

BYD has not publically announced an annual sales target for 2015. It has contributed greatly from the release of several new models, selling 228,000 vehicles over the first half of the year, up 9.9% from the amount sold over the first half of 2014.