Chinese sedan market in January

The Chinese sedan market contracted again in January. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 1.11 million sedans were sold in the country over the course of the month, down 9.1% year-on-year. Sedans accounted for 56.1% of all passenger automobiles sold in January, compared to 62.9% from the previous January.

Looking at sedan sales by brand origin, only Japanese sedan sales managed to achieve positive year-on-year growth. A total of 194,300 Japanese-made sedans were sold in January, representing year-on-year growth of 11.2%. German manufacturers led the segment, with a total of 371,087 German sedans sold in January, down 2.9% year-on-year.

Own brand sedans produced by domestic manufacturers totaled 22,076 units, down a full 19.5% from the previous year. Own brand models accounted for 20.3% of all sedans sold in the country, down 2.9 percentage points from the previous year.

The A-class segment continued to be the driving force for sedan sales, with a total of 713,956 units sold over the course of the month, down 3.9% year-on-year. A-class sedan sales accounted for 64.2% of all sedans sold in the country. Sales of other segments also all decreased year-on-year.

Shanghai VW was the top seller of sedans in January. It was followed by FAW-VW, Shanghai GM, Changan Ford, Geely Automobile, Dongfeng Nissan, Beijing Hyundai, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën, Changan Automobile and FAW Toyota. The big three of Shanghai VW, FAW-VW and Shanghai GM continued to hold a stable lead over the rest of the market, with their monthly performance results all exceeding the 10,000 sales mark. However, their sales growth performance was weak, with Shanghai VW achieving just slight positive year-on-year sales growth, while FAW-VW and Shanghai GM both suffered negative year-on-year sales growth.

Geely and Changan were the two own brand manufacturers to make the top ten sedan sales charts in January, with their sedan sales totaling 55,189 units and 42,837 units, respectively. Also commendable was FAW Toyota’s performance, whose sedan sales totaled 42,253 units, representing year-on-year growth of 59.9%.

The VW Lavida was the best-selling sedan model of the month, followed by the VW Jetta, Buick Excelle, VW Santana, VW Sagitar, Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Escort, VW Golf and VW Passat. The Passat was the only B-class sedan to make the list, with the rest of the entries being A-class models.

The Lavida’s sales totaled 16,084 units, representing strong year-on-year sales growth of 21.9%. By comparison, last year’s second best-selling sedan, the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, saw its sales fall over 30%. A total of 16,084 units were sold in January, finishing in 21st place, far outside of the top ten.

No own brand models made the top ten chart, with the best-performing won brand, Geely’s Emgrand EC7, finishing just outside of the top ten with sales of 22,512 units. Lower down was the charts was the Changan Eado, whose January sales totaled 18,265 units.