While small SUV sales have been increasing as of late, the compact SUV segment still remains the major source of sales in the Chinese SUV segment. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 227,084 compact SUVs were sold in July, accounting for 56.3% of all SUV sales made in the country over the course of the month. However, one thing worth pointing out is that compact SUV sales growth rates are on the decline. Cumulative compact SUV sales grew 16.2% in July, compared to a 35.8% growth rate for the SUV segment overall. The proportion of SUV sales that were of compact SUVs also fell 9.5% during the month.
Domestic own brand manufacturers’ performance in the compact SUV segment remains strong. Own brand compact SUVs achieved sales growth of 51.6%. This impressive sales growth rate is due in large part to the successful introduction of new compact SUV models, which have proven to be very popular. By contrast, the performance of joint ventures in the segment has been a lot less encouraging, as their combined sales decreased 9.6%. In particular, sales of Korean compact SUVs fell 58.1% in the month. While Japanese and German compact SUVs fared better by comparison, their respective sales growth rates of 10.8% and 3.3% still left quite a lot to be desired.
The Great Wall Haval H6 was the best-selling compact SUV of July. It was followed by the VW Tiguan, GAC Trumpchi GS4, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Changan CS75, Nissan X-Trail, BYD S3, SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 560 and Ford Kuga. Half of the models making the list were from own brand manufacturers.
The Great Wall Haval H6 achieved sales of 23,088 units this July, down 13% from the amount sold last July. Despite the decline sales volumes, the Haval H6 continues to lead the rest of the segment by a very comfortable margin.
Despite having only been on the market for a little over three months, the GAC Trumpchi GS4 has still managed to accumulate a total of 12,138 sales in July. In only its second month on the market, the Trumpchi GS4 already achieved sales of over 6,000 units. Two short months later monthly sales of the Trumpchi GS4 had already past the 10,000 units mark.
Another new model, the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun 560, also performed very strongly. A respectable 9,158 Baojun 560s were sold in the few weeks it has been on the market.
The Changan CS75 and BYD S3 also posted very strong sales results. Sales of the CS75 and S3 totaled 11,195 units and 10,772 units, representing sales growth rates of 110.8% and 49.5%, respectively.
The VW Tiguan was the best-selling foreign brand SUV of July, with a total of 17,466 units sold. That figure is 8.6% less than the amount sold a year ago. Similarly, sales of the Ford Kuga fell 24.6% from last July to this July. A total of 7,881 Kugas were sold over the course of the month.
Three Japanese compact SUV models made the sales chart: the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail. Among them, the CR-V managed to perform very strongly in July. Its monthly sales of 12,115 units was a little over double the amount sold last July. By comparison, even though the RAV4 and X-Trail posted respectable sales volumes of 11,715 units and 10,806 units, they both saw their sales fall from last year. This is especially troubling for the New X-Trail, whose sales were initially very strong, allowing it to compete squarely with the Tiguan and CR-V. However, after that initial boom, the performance of the X-Trail began to trail.
