Following the implementation of new tax policies, Chinese passenger automobile sales have achieved notable year-on-year sales growth of 15.4% in October. This growth is in large part due to the performance of the SUV segment, which grew over 60%. According to Gasgoo.com (Chinese) statistics, 631,295 SUVs were sold in the month of October, up 63.2% from the previous year. Over 4.79 million SUVs have been sold in the country from January to October, representing year-on-year growth of 50.4%. By comparison, minivan sales only grew 7% over the same time period, while sedan sales actually fell 0.4%.
Great Wall Motor was the best-selling SUV manufacturer in October, followed by Beijing Hyundai, Changan Automobile, Shanghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Nissan, Jianghuai Motor and Shanghai VW. All of these companies managed to achieve strong positive growth rates for their SUV sales, with Jianghuai, also known as JAC Motor, posting commendable year-on-year growth rate of 138.2%.
Domestic own brand manufacturers continue to lead the segment, with a total of 354,181 SUVs being of own brands. That figure represents strong sales growth of 85%. Domestic own brands accounted for 56.1% of all SUVs sold in the country. By comparison, 93,236 Japanese brand SUVs sales were sold during the month, up 42.9% from the previous year. Sales of American SUVs also grew a commendable 60.3%. By comparison, year-on-year sales growth rates for German and Korean SUVs were 13% and 41.5%, respectively.
The Great Wall Haval H6 was the best-selling SUV of the month. It was followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Baojun 560, GAC’s Trumpchi GS4, the VW Tiguan, Changan CS75, Buick Envision, JAC’s Refine S3, Honda CR-V, Great Wall’s Haval H2 and BYD S3. The top three best-selling SUVs in October were domestic own brand models.
October sales of the Great Wall Haval H6 totaled 37,541 units, representing year-on-year growth of 23.6%. The Baojun 560 and Trumpchi GS4’s sales performances were also very strong, totaling 30,226 units and 21,052 units, respectively. The fact that these three SUVs were all made by domestic own brand manufacturers is a testament to their strength in the segment.
Chinese buyers are tending to gravitate towards particular SUV sizes. Compact SUV sales totaled 372,330 units in October, representing year-on-year growth of 59%, while small SUV sales totaled 160,958 units, representing year-on-year growth of 25.5%. By comparison, sales of monthly midsize and large midsize SUVs totaled 93,401 units and 4,354 units, equivalent to positive sales growth rates of 14.8% and 0.7%, respectively.
