According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), total Chinese SUV sales from January to November increased 51.5% year-on-year. The midsize SUV segment reflected those growth trends. A total of 816,843 midsize SUVs were sold in the country from January to November, up 48.0% year-on-year. Midsize SUVs account for 14.9% of all SUVs sold in the country over that time period, down 0.4 percentage points from a year ago. The midsize SUV segment still lags considerably behind the compact and small SUV segments in terms of total sales.
Looking at different manufacturers of midsize SUVs, American brands benefited greatly from the introduction of new midsize SUV models. American brand midsize SUV sales from January to November totaled 219,591 units, representing year-on-year growth of 446.0%. By comparison, only 40,217 American midsize SUVs were sold from the first 11 months of 2014.
By comparison, other manufacturers did not reach market levels when it comes to midsize SUV sales. Although domestic own brands continue to lead the midsize SUV segment with a total of 280,249 units, their sales only grew 30.2%. Sales of German and Japanese brand midsize SUV sales grew 7.6% and 10.2%, respectively. Meanwhile sales of Korean brand midsize SUVs fell 50.6% over the same time period.
The Buick Envision was the best-selling midsize SUV from January to November, followed by the Zotye T600, Audi Q5, BYD S7, Toyota Highlander, Mercedes-Benz GLK, Ford Edge, Volvo XC60, Hyundai Santa-Fe and Chevrolet Captiva. Sales of the aforementioned ten models totaled 718,929 units, representing a total of 88.0% of all midsize SUVs sold in the country.
The Buick Envision, which was launched in October 2014, managed to achieve sales of 139,856 units from January to November. The Envision constantly achieved monthly sales of over 10,000 units. It was also the only midsize model to make the top ten overall SUV sales charts. Sales of the Envision broke the 20,000 units mark in November. The Envision’s warm market reception has been attributed to its competitive specifications.
The other American midsize SUVs that made the charts were the Ford Edge and Chevy Captiva. The Edge, which was launched in May 2015, has managed to accumulate sales of 51,714 units from January to November. Meanwhile, sales of the Captiva over the same timeframe totaled 28,021 units.
The best performing own brand midsize SUV was the Zotye T600, whose sales from January to November totaled 110,574 units, up 105.4% from the 53,832 units sold a year ago. The BYD S7, which has been on the market for just over a year, has managed to achieve total sales of 99,231 units over the eleven month time span. Monthly sales volumes of the S7 from February to June all exceeded the 10,000 unit mark.
A few luxury midsize SUV models, namely the Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLK and Volvo XC60, also made the sales charts. Cumulative sales of the Q5 and GLK totaled 103,827 units and 56,923 units, representing year-on-year growth rates of 5.5% and 11.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, sales of the Volvo XC60 totaled 32,627 units.
Sales of the Toyota Highlander and Hyundai Santa Fe, respectively the best-selling Japanese and Korean midsize SUV models in China, fell 12.9% and 50.6% year-on-year.
