China’s midsize sedan segment in 2016 Q1

Although rapid growth in SUV sales has been major driver for the Chinese passenger automobile market, the fact remains that the sedan segment still accounts for the majority of automobile sales made in the country. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), 51.5% of all automobiles sold in the first quarter of the year were sedans. Important among the sedan market is the highly competitive midsize sedan segment, which accounted for 16.5% of all sedans sold in the country. A total of 463,691 midsize sedans were sold in the first quarter of the year, down 17.5%, year-on-year.

Midsize sedan manufacturers of all origins suffered negative year-on-year growth declines of varying degrees. Performing most strongly among them were German manufacturers, whose new midsize sedan sales totaled 188,541 units, representing negative year-on-year growth of 2.5%. By comparison, American and Korean midsize sedan sales fell nearly by a third. Japanese and own brand midsize sedan sales for the quarter totaled 91,854 units and 27,847 units, representing negative year-on-year growth rates of 16.0% and 16.1%, respectively.

FAW-VW sold the largest number of midsize sedans in the first quarter of 2016, followed by Shanghai VW, Shanghai GM, Beijing Hyundai, Changan Ford, Guangqi Toyota, Beijing Benz, Brilliance BMW, Dongfeng Nissan and Guangqi Honda. These top ten manufacturers sold a total of 381,599 midsize sedans combined, accounting for 82.3% of all midsize sedans sold in the country over the course of the quarter. No domestic own brand manufacturers made the top ten sales charts this quarter.

FAW-VW sold a total of 84,084 midsize sedans, representing year-on-year growth of 3.6% and far above its closest competitors. FAW-VW benefited greatly from the high sales volumes of the VW Magotan and Audi A4, the latter of which managed to achieve a commendable year-on-year sales growth rate of 25.2%. Quarterly sales of the Magotan and A4 totaled 44,102 units and 32,133 units, respectively.

Fellow ‘Big Three’ joint ventures Shanghai VW and Shanghai GM took the second and third sports, with midsize sedan sales of 55,400 units and 52,911 units, respectively. Although Shanghai VW’s midsize sedan sales fell 22.9% last quarter, its VW Passat led the midsize sedan sales charts with total sales of 48,743 units. Shanghai GM’s sales fell 44.8% year-on-year.

Also suffering double-digit negative year-on-year growth were Beijing Hyundai and Guangqi Toyota, whose sales fell 25.1% and 30.9%, respectively.

Beijing Benz was on the other end of the spectrum, achieving impressive positive year-on-year growth of 34.6%, thanks mainly due to the impressive performance of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Also achieving a positive year-on-year growth rate in the double digits was Brilliance BMW, which sold a total of 24,470 midsize sedans over the course of the quarter.