Chinese passenger automobile market in February

According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), Shanghai Volkswagen ended up being the best performing passenger automobile manufacturer for the month of February. It was followed by Shanghai GM, FAW-VW, Changan Automobile, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Beijing Hyundai, Changan Ford, Great Wall, Dongfeng Yueda Kia and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën.

Shanghai VW’s sales performance last month far exceeded those of its major rivals Shanghai GM and FAW-VW. Shanghai VW sold a total of 161,100 vehicles over the course of the month, up 0.1 percent from the previous year. The joint venture’s best-selling vehicle was the Lavida, whose sales for the month totaled 36,100 units. Sales of the Santana, while they decreased 19.2 percent, still totaled a respectable 26,500 units. Monthly sales of the Tiguan, Passat and Polo were also all above the 10,000 units mark.

Sales of February’s number two and three enterprises, Shanghai GM and FAW-VW, totaled 113,000 units and 116,000 unit, respectively. While the former was only able to boast three models whose sales exceeded the 10,000 mark, namely the Chevrolet Cruze, Buick Excelle (Kaiyue) and Chevrolet New Sail, the latter had a vast number of models with sales of over 10,000 units: the Sagitar, Jetta, New Bora, Magotan, Golf and Audi A6.

After cracking the top four for the first time in its history in January, Changan Automobile managed to repeat its success in February with a total of 83,300 vehicles sold, up a staggering 77.6 percent from the previous year. With the exception of the Yuexiang V3, sales of Changan Automobiles all experienced positive year-on-year growth. Sales of the Honor, Eado, CS35 and CS75 all exceeded 10,000 models. The CS75’s performance is exceptionally noteworthy, as it has been on the market for less than a year now.

Great Wall was the only other own brand manufacturer to make the top ten list, with its sales for the month totaling 44,800 units. The manufacturer benefited from the steady sales growth of the Haval H6 and the recently released Haval H2; monthly sales of the two vehicles were 20,000 units and 10,600 units, respectively.

SAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture whose best-selling products are those of domestic brands, saw their sales grow 15 percent to total 81,300 units in February, finishing just behind Changan. Although sales of the Wuling Hongguang have fell over 20 percent from the previous year, its sales record of 51,500 units mean that it remained the country’s best-selling minivan model. Sales of the Baojun 730 totaled 24,50 units, nearly half of the joint venture’s total sales volume.

Beijing Hyundai finished a steady fifth in February, with its sales totaling 74,000 vehicles.

 

When looking at cumulative sales volumes for the first two months of the year, Shanghai VW led the charts, followed by FAW-VW, Shanghai GM, Changan Automobile, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Beijing Hyundai, Changan Ford, Great Wall, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën and Dongfeng Yueda Kia.