Due to weak sales by Korean manufacturers, foreign brand SUV sales growth has fallen below that of the overall SUV market average. However, the cumulative sales performance for foreign brands for the first seven months of the year has been very strong, with their market share increasing over that time period.
According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 165,200 foreign brand SUVs were sold in China in July, representing year-on-year growth of 17.9 percent. That growth rate is slightly less than the overall market growth rate of 20.9 percent. Foreign brands' market share was 57.6 percent in July, down 1.4 percent from a year ago. This decline was attributed to poor sales by Korean manufacturers like Hyundai-Kia, which hindered foreign brands' overall combined growth.
Korean brand manufacturers' poor performance in the segment have been attributed to a lack of new SUV models and declining sales for current models. Sales of Korean SUVs fell 17.5 percent from the 32,100 SUVs sold in July 2013. Korean SUV sales have now fallen behind American manufacturers' SUV sales. A total of 222,100 Korean SUVs have been sold over the first seven months of the year, down 2.4 percent from 2013's figure.
1.25 million foreign brand SUVs have been sold from January to July. That figure represents year-on-year growth of 36.5 percent, just higher than the overall market average of 33.7 percent. Foreign brands' combined share of the market average for the time period was 59.4 percent, up 1.3 percent from a year ago. The majority of that growth came from new model sales.
Contrary to Korean brands, sales of Japanese, German and American brand SUVs have all grown. American SUV sales grew the quickest in July, with sales of the Chevrolet Captiva greatly contributing to this. A total of 32,000 American brand SUVs were sold in July, equivalent to year-on-year growth of 41.5 percent. A total of 209,300 American SUVs have been sold over the first seven months of the year, up 67.9 percent from similar figures from year ago.
Overall year-on-year growth rates for German and Japanese SUVs for the first seven months of the year both exceeded 40 percent. Respective totals of 439,600 Japanese SUVs and 317,300 German SUVs have been sold from January to July.
The Great Wall Haval H6 was the best selling SUV model in July, followed by the VW Tiguan, Toyota RAV4, Nissan X-Trail, Chery Tiggo, Hyundai ix35, Ford Kuga, Buick Enclave, Ford EcoSport and Peugeot 3008. Worth mentioning is that the Honda CR-V have failed make the top ten rankings for July 2014. Sales of the traditionally popular CR-V have fallen from 13,500 units in July 2013 to just 5,996 units.
The H6 was also the country's best selling SUV for the first seven months of the year. It was followed by the Tiguan, CR-V, ix35, Kuga, Toyota RAV4, Audi Q5, Changan CS35, BYD S6 and Great Wall M4.
