Despite a downturn in the automobile market as of late, the SUV segment in China continues to remain very strong. Domestic own brand manufacturers are performing especially strongly in the segment. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 246,313 own brand SUVs were sold in August, up 64.7% from 149,574 own brand SUVs sold last August. The SUV segment accounted for over half of all own brand sales made over the course of the month. 52.5% of SUV sales were of own brand models. The reason behind own brands’ success in the segment has been the introduction of several popular new models.
The Great Wall Haval H6 was the best selling own brand SUV model in August. It was followed by the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 560, JAC Refine S3, GAC Trumpchi GS4, Changan CS35, Changan CS75, Great Wall Haval H2, BAIC Huansu S3, Zotye T600 and Chery Tiggo. The aforementioned models accounted for 57.3% of SUVs sold in the country. Their combined sales totaled 141,050 units.
SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Baojun 560 has received a great deal of praise for its attractive price point, which is in the perfect range for a lot of consumers. In only its second month on the market, the Baojun 560 has managed to achieve sales of 17,128 units, ranking only behind Great Wall’s Haval H6 to be the second best selling own brand SUV of the month.
The Great Wall Haval H6’s continued dominance on the charts is hardly a surprise. The SUV managed to achieve positive sales of 5.8% for the month, with a total of 25,710 units sold. A total of 222,296 H6s have been sold over the first eight months of the year, representing year-on-year growth of 13.8%. Fellow Great Wall model Haval H2 also continues to perform strongly, with its sales having increased a full 229% from last August to this August.
Monthly sales of the JAC Refine S3 totaled 14,513 units, increasing an outstanding 625.7 percent from last August. A total of 118,354 Refine S3s have been sold from January to August, second only to the Haval H6. The GAC Trumpchi GS4 has also performed strongly with total sales of 14,317 units.
Both the Changan CS35 and Changan CS75 have made the top ten sales chart with monthly sales of 13,898 units and 12,903 units, respectively. Those sales figures are each around twice the amount sold last August. The two models have been instrumental to Changan’s overall performance as this year’s best selling domestic own brand manufacturer.
The only midsize SUV model to make the sales chart was the Zotye T600. A total of 9,446 T600s were sold over the course of the month, representing positive sales growth of 60.4%.
