Gasgoo tabulates the sales data released by corresponding luxury vehicle makers and the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) as below. In August, Audi retained the championship by sales in China from the previous month. Mercedes-Benz and BMW delivered similar amount of vehicles, both achieving yea-on-year (YoY) growth in August sales.
Thanks to the tariff cut policy and favorable product reputation, Lexus maintained its blooming performance from the former month with its August sales surging 59.2% YoY. Apart from Jaguar Land Rover, Infiniti and Acura, the other automakers on the list all gained positive sales increase in August.
Audi
Audi remained its championship from the July with its sales climbing 6.0% YoY to 57,453 units in August. It also achieved a two-digit YoY growth in cumulative sales, ranking second among luxury car brands in Chinese market.
Sedan models generally saw clear sales increase. Last month, the sales of the Audi A4L reached a new high to 14,857 units and the sales of the Audi A6L rose 15.4% YoY to 12,878 units.
Besides, The Audi Q5L SUV faced a 9% YoY growth with 13,360 vehicles delivered in August. The new Audi Q2L will be launched in October, the month traditionally considered as peak season, which is expected to drive the overall sales in the rest time of the year. In addition, the all-new Audi Q3, which has been put into production in Tianjin, will see a big enhancement in capacity by the end of 2018. The all-new Audi A7 is about to be introduced in China at the end of the year, helping Audi enlarge its shares in premium C-segment sedan segment.
BMW
Including the sales of the Mini brand, BMW witnessed its August sales apparently grow 12.9% to 53,520 units thanks to the blooming performance of the BMW 5 Series. The sales of the BMW 3 Series reached 12,188 units in August, which was a bit weaker than the models on the same level, such as the Audi A4 and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. The sales of the BMW 2 Series slumped nearly 60% YoY to only 547 units.
The sales of SUV and NEV models basically remained steady. The BMW X1 compact SUV faced a tiny YoY sales decline last month, while still takes the risk of further sales fluctuation as more new models will come to the segment where it stands. Moreover, the escalating China-U.S. trade dispute will have a continuous impact on the imported car sales in China for BMW.
Mercedes-Benz
From January to August, Mercedes-Benz delivered 446,075 vehicles in China with a YoY growth of 13.9%, ranking first on the list.
The C-Class, one of the Mercedes-Benz's volume leaders, had a YoY jump of 25.9% with 12,604 units sold in August. The upcoming facelift version and the promotion policies are expected to further advance the C-Class’ sales. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class held a YoY growth of 15.7% with 11,001 vehicles delivered last month.
As to the SUV performance, the GLC was another growth-point with its August sales up to 9,500 units compared with 8,018 units in the same period a year ago. However, the sales of the GLA fell nearly 20% over the previous year to 4,900 units.
Lexus
The August sales of Lexus hit a new high of 17,675 units, a YoY surge of 59.2% thanks to its favorable reputation and the tariff reduction policy.
Lexus, purely depending on imported vehicles, has deployed a rather complete product lineup in its Chinese market by bringing in 5 car models, namely, the CT, IS, GS, ES and LS, three SUV models, the RX, NX, LX, as well as the forthcoming UX. The sales of the Lexus Hybrids reached 5,552 units, accounting for 31.4% of total China sales in August.
Cadillac
The sales growth was slower in recent months for Cadillac. Last month, its sales edged up 1.9% from a year ago to 16,000 units, among which the sales of the Cadillac XT5, ATS-L and XTS all hovered around 5,000 units.
The China-made Cadillac XT-4 officially went on sale on August 29 with part of variants priced under RMB 300,000, which is expected to boost the existing sales to a higher level.
Volvo
Volvo saw its China sales jump 18.4% YoY to 11,386 units in August and leap 17.2% YoY to 82,987 units for the first eight months. Last month, the sales of the Volvo XC60 shot up 44.8% over the year-ago period to 5,282 units, while the sales of the S60L were around 1,000 units less than that of the previous month to 1,014 units. The yet-to-be-launched all-new Volvo S60 and the locally-produced XC40 may get the potential to further promote the sales in China for Volvo.
Jaguar Land Rover
For the first eight months, Jaguar Land Rover's sales declined 6% from a year ago in China to 85,321 units, affected by the tariff changes and trade tensions as the automaker said.
It is noteworthy that Jaguar global retail sales were 11,802 vehicles in August, up 7.7% year on year, driven by the introduction of the E-PACE and I-PACE, as well as XE long wheelbase sales in China.
Infiniti
Restricted by less rich product matrix and relatively narrow brand influence, Infinite didn’t enjoy that strong performance like the other Japanese car brand Lexus. Last month, Infinite delivered 2,105 vehicles in China, a slight YoY drop of 0.3%. As to the performance from January to August, its sales also shrank 7.2% from a year earlier to 15,723 units.
The sales of the Q50L tumbled 29.29% YoY to 1,130 units in August. Although the sales of the Infiniti QX50 presented an evident YoY growth, it was hard to bring substantial impact on the overall sales due to the comparatively small quantity (975 units).
DS
According to the CPCA, DS delivered 709 vehicles in China last month, achieving a dramatic YoY growth of 112.3% despite the small absolute sales. However, the Jan-Aug sales still slid 22.1% compared with the corresponding period in 2017. The DS7, which hit the market this year, has somewhat energized the marketing performance in China for the brand.
Acura
A total of 5,216 units Acura branded cars were handed over during the first eight months, plunging 41.2% YoY. The sales of the Acura CDX reached only 437 units in August, tumbling 66.4% over a year ago.
