China’s auto parallel imports in Jan.-Nov. jump 13.8% year on year

Auto parallel imports, referring to the vehicles bought from unauthorized dealers in other markets for sale in China, jumped 13.8% year on year to 151,752 units in Jan.-Nov. period, accounting for 15.4% of the country’s total car imports, according to a report released by Sinomach Automobile Co.,Ltd.

In November, auto parallel imports surged 64.8% from a year ago to 11,451 units, thanks to the relatively small base number for the year-ago period.

For the first eleven months, Toyota was the champion brand with a share of up to 43.9%, followed by Nissan (12.5%) and Mercedes-Benz (11.4%). In terms of year-on-year share change, Toyota and Mitsubishi achieved growth of 4 and 6.9 percentage points, while the other brands all posted downturn.

As for the ranking of top 4 models by Jan.-Nov. parallel import volume, the Land Cruiser (2,466 units, +12.2%) regained the championship, followed by the Pajero (1,412 units, +582.1%) and the Prado (1,317 units, +27.6%). Nevertheless, the BMW X5 (1,054 units, +3534.5%) dropped to the fourth place.

SUV was still the mainstay with a market share of 85% for the first eleven months. The MPV sector held 10% share, 2 percentage points more than that of the prior-year period.

Moreover, the report showed that there were a total of 15 new models that were introduced to China in the form of parallel import between January to November. They are the Pilote V600 SE, the Mustang Shelby, the George Patton GX, the Renault Duster, the Brabus GR, the BMW X7, the Infiniti QX70, the Audi A8, the Blucamp Lucky, the Karma Revero, the JEEP Wrangler, the Honda Accord, the Suzuki Jimmy, the Nissan Titan and the IMSA S Maybach.