China’s passenger vehicle (PV) wholesale volume in April slide 17.4% from a year ago to 1,550,035 units, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). For the first four months, national PV wholesale volume amounted to 6,706,163 units, shrinking 14.9% (PV hereby refers to sedan, SUV and MPV).
The sales decline should be attributed to such facts as the to-be-implemented China Stage 6 Emission Standard that made consumers hesitate to buy cars, and the increased inventory pressure on dealers, said an analyst from Gasgoo Auto Research Institute.
Last month, China’s sedan wholesale volume reached 793,603 units (-14.4%) in April and totaled 3,314,512 units (-12.5%) for the first four months.
The Lavida and the Corolla gained the championship and the runner-up place on the top 10 sedan model list by April wholesale volume. Both of them achieved double-digit year-on-year growth.
The Sylphy came across an evident decrease of 19% over the previous year. Monthly wholesale volume of the Nissan-owned sedan model exceeded 50,000 units in last November and December and its Q1 volume also presented a double-digit growth of 21%. Dealers opted to lessen the bulky purchase of the Sylphy cars from automakers in April as their inventory pressure stayed at a relatively high level.
The sales of Accord tremendously surged 524.3% over the previous year to 21,276 units. Besides, the Geely Emgrand was the only China’s self-owned model on the top 10 sedan model list. However, its April sales slumped 29.1% from the year-ago period.
The national SUV wholesale volume was decreased 18.6% to 664,318 units. By the end of April, SUV sales of the world’s largest auto market have reached 2,938,457 units this year, dropping 15.6%.
The Haval H6 was still the hottest-selling SUV model partly thanks to some promotion policy launched by Great Wall Motor. Apart from the X-TRAIL and two new comers (the Binyue and the Tharu), the other models among the top 10 SUV models by April wholesale volume all posted year-on-year double-digit decrease.
