Chinese passenger automobile market in January 2016

According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 2.17 million passenger automobiles were sold in China in the month of January. While that figure represents year-on-year growth of 12.0%, it is 8.5% less than the total amount sold in the previous month of December 2015.

Domestic own brand manufacturers continued to dominate the passenger automobile market with total January sales of 950,329 units, up 24.3% year-on-year. Own brands’ share in the market grew 4.3 percentage points from last year, with own brands now accounting for 43.6% of all passenger automobiles sold in the country in January. Own brands benefited greatly from SUV sales, with SUVs accounting for 49.8% of their overall sales volume.

German brands ranked second in the monthly passenger automobile sales charts with total sales of 447,726 units, up 0.45% year-on-year. Japanese and American passenger automobile sales grew a great deal in January, increasing 22.7% and 10.1% year-on-year. By contrast, Korean and French passenger automobile sales over the same time period fell 21.9% and 10.7% year-on-year.

Passenger automobile sales exhibited a trend shifting towards SUV sales. A total of 798,533 SUVs were sold in January, up 63.9% year-on-year. That figure accounted for 36.7% of all passenger automobiles sold in January, up 11.6 percentage points from the previous year. Minivan sales also experienced positive year-on-year sales growth of 14.3%. Minivans accounted for 12.3% of all passenger automobiles sold in the month, up 0.3 percentage points year-on-year. By comparison sedan sales fell 9.1% year-on-year in January, totaling 1.11 million units.

The SUV segment continued to surge ahead in January, with all major brands achieving strong year-on-year growth rates in the double digits. Domestic own brand manufacturers led the segment. A total of 473,029 own brand SUVs were sold in January, representing year-on-year growth of 74.1% and accounting for 59.2% of all SUVs sold in the country. Japanese SUV sales were also strong, with their sales totaling 102,520 units, up 58.7% year-on-year.

The Great Wall Haval H6 was January’s best-selling SUV model for the month of January. It was followed by the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 560, GAC Trumpchi GS4, VW Tiguan, Changan CS75, JAC Refine S3, Buick Envision, Changan CS35, Nissan X-Trail and Great Wall Haval H2. Seven of those above models were made by own brands. Both the Haval H6 and Baojun 560 achieved monthly sales of over 40,000 units, while the Trumpchi GS4 surpassed the VW Tiguan to take the number three spot.

Things in the sedan segment were quite different. Only Japanese manufacturers saw positive year-on-year sales growth for sedan sales. Sales of Japanese sedans in January totaled 194,300 units, up 11.2% year-on-year. German sedan sales totaled 371,087 units; despite ranking first in the segment, their sales volume fell 2.9% year-on-year. Own brand sedan sales surpassed the 20,000 mark, down 19.5% year-on-year.

The VW Lavida led the sales charts for January, followed by the VW Jetta, Buick Excelle, VW Santana, VW Sagitar, Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Escort, VW Golf and VW Passat. The Lavida achieved year-on-year sales growth of 21.9% in January, with a total of 48,387 units sold over the course of the month. By comparison, last January’s top-selling sedan, the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, has dropped far off the top ten sales charts. Its sales fell over 30% year-on-year, totaling 16,084 units. The Geely Emgrand EC7 was the best-selling own brand sedan of the month, ranking just outside of the top ten with a total sales volume of 22,512 units.

Own brands continued to dominate January minivan sales with a total of 252,224 units sold, accounting for 94.0% of all minivans sold in China over the course of the month. The SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang led the charts, followed by the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 730, Changan Honor, BAIC Weiwang M20, Dongfeng Xiaokang Fengguang 330, JAC Refine, Dongfeng Fengxing Lingzhi, Dongfeng Fengxing S500, BYD H3 and Dongfeng Xiaokang Fengguang 370.