For the month of July, automakers in China sold roughly 1.668 million locally-produced PVs (referring to cars, SUVs, MPVs and minibuses), a year-on-year growth of 7.4%, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). For the Jan.-Jul. period, the homegrown PV wholesales volume aggregated 9.481 million units, sliding 18.8% from the previous year.
The wholesales volume of China-built cars amounted to 775,000 units in July, climbing 3.2% year on year. For the first seven months, a total of 4.427 million cars were sold by automakers, a year-on-year decline of 22.3%.
Among the top 10 car models by July wholesale volume, five places were seized by the models developed by Sino-Japanese joint ventures. Notably, the Sylphy, the Corolla and Civic were all listed on the top 5 car model list. Besides, the Levin and Accord were ranked seventh and eighth respectively.
Compared to June, the Sylphy maintained its championship in the car field. It was also the only homegrown car model whose July wholesales exceeded 40,000 units. Its strong presence should be partially thanks to Nissan's new-generation family design adopted by the change-over of the Sylphy, which greatly accords with Chinese consumers' expectation over family-use cars. In addition, the significant discounts offered by the automaker also contributed to the robust sales growth.
There were three models under Sino-German brands entering the top 10 list, namely, the Lavida, the Bora and the Sagitar. However, all of them failed to gain year-on-year growth in July sales.
The Lavida was once again outperformed by the Sylphy, while its runner-up place is still hard to be taken by rivals. SAIC-Volkswagen has started treating cost effectiveness as the selling point of the Lavida. Reportedly, the price available for delivery has been cut over 30,000 yuan ($4,330).
Two China's self-owned models—the Eado and the Emgrand—were among the top 10 car models, ranked ninth and tenth respectively.
