China Car Sales 2008

The Chinese car industry set off to a fantastic start, it was the dream market for many automakers, but that dream market faded towards the end of 2008 with financial woe knocking at the door of many manufacturers. Consumers were put off from buying cars in the last half of the year, but overall, the Chinese car market did grow in 2008.

Compact Car Sales: The QQ, FAW Xiali, and Chevrolet Aveo models all passed 10,000 units. The QQ and Xia Li were the top two in ’07, but the Chevrolet Aveo took the third place crown from the VW Polo which did come third in ’07. Year on Year Rank Model 2008 Sales 2007 Sales change （（（%））） 1 Chery QQ 133398 130186 2.5 2 Tianjin Xia Li 120969 132544 -8.7 3 Chevrolet Aveo 107336 87031 23.3 4 Geely Freedom Cruiser 81076 79844 1.5 5 VW Polo 74491 90432 -17.6 6 Honda City 56955 68129 -16.4 7 Geely King Kong 56300 45438 23.9 Tianjin FAW Weichi 8 54580 45759 19.3 series 9 Suzuki WagonR 50895 43151 17.9 10 Honda Fit/Jazz 49886 63319 -21.2 11 Suzuki Ling Yang 47291 39337 20.2 12 Chevrolet Spark 40797 32510 25.5 13 Chang’an Ben Ben 39036 48587 -19.7 14 Toyota Vios 36865 39395 -6.4 15 Hefei Lobo 30224 31778 -4.9 16 Kia Rio 29898 18503 61.6 17 28481 11356 150.8 18 Hyundai Accent 24401 26665 -8.5 19 BYD F0 23677 0 - 20 Suzuki Alto 21618 31930 -32.3 21 (new)Toyota Yaris 18868 0 - 22 Suzuki Swift 16328 15584 4.8 23 Peugeot 206 14593 28558 -48.9 24 Mazda 2 13692 1528 796.1

Chevrolet Aveo 25 12301 11455 7.4 Hatchback 26 Geely Merrie 8570 33906 -74.7 27 Chang’an Idea 8294 7656 8.3 28 Citroen C2 7786 17417 -55.3 29 Great Wall Perry 7478 441 1595.7 30 Hafei Saima 6812 7273 -6.3 31 Geely Golden Eagle 6616 0 - 32 Suzuki Liana 3835 9468 -59.5 33 JAC Tong Rui 2565 0 - 34 Great Wall Si Li 2226 0 - 35 Geely Panda 1769 0 - 36 Peugeot 207 1406 0 - FAW Tianjin Wei Zi (old 37 1088 1977 -45.0 Yaris) 38 Skoda Fabia 841 0 -

The Suzuki Liana, Citroen C2, and the Changhe Ideal did not perform very well at all, with average sales not reaching 700 cars per month. The car that performed the best was the Chevrolet Aveo, which claimed a sales increase of 23.3%. Geely also did very well, claiming a 23.9% sales increase on the King Kong, as did the Suzuki Ling Yang, with a sales increase of 20%, given that the Suzuki Ling Yang is essentially an early generation Suzuki Cultus.

The BYD F0, which manages to combine style and economy, appears to be selling around 6000 cars per month, slightly down on BYD’s ambitious target of 8000 cars per month. The Toyota Yaris, a similar sized car sold 18868 cars since its launch earlier this year, Toyota were aiming for sales of 40,000 within ’08.

Compact Cars

The compact car segment is quite a hot segment, and its where many automakers achieve most of their sales. Sales are broken down as following: Year on Year Rank Models 2008 Sales 2007 Sales change in % 1 VW Jetta 202303 201131 0.6 2 Buick Excelle 175417 196742 -10.8 3 Toyota Corolla 165271 65844 151.0 Nissan Tiida (hatch and 4 137193 123310 11.3 sedan) BYD F3 (sedan) and 5 136782 98476 38.9 FR3 (hatchback)

6 Hyundai Elanta 115719 120333 -3.8 7 Ford Focus 112552 124991 -10.0 8 Haima 323 85427 114009 -25.1 9 Honda Civic 83406 81323 2.6 10 New Elantra 79016 0 - 11 VW Sagitar 75456 74345 1.5 12 Kia Cerato 74352 62786 18.4 13 Nissan Livina 69992 41341 69.3 14 Peugeot 307 60376 63661 -5.2 15 Skoda Octavia 59499 31802 87.1 16 Chery A5 59484 69306 -14.2 17 VW Bora 59169 58613 0.9 18 Citroen Elysee 55205 31449 75.5 19 Nissan Bluebird Sylphy 53228 0 - Toyota Corolla (old 20 52247 63999 -18.4 model) 21 Chery Cowin 52123 93415 -44.2 22 VW Lavida 44392 0 - 23 Suzuki SX4 38886 21379 81.9 24 Geely Yuanjing 30195 17923 68.5 25 Mazda3 29225 35844 -18.5 26 Lifan 520 16402 40220 -59.2 27 Mitsubishi Lancer 15636 24665 -36.6 28 Brilliance FRV 14957 0 - 29 Citroen ZX 12446 28004 -55.6 30 Roewe 550 12399 0 - 31 Citroen Quattre (C4) 8053 0 - 32 6964 0 - 33 Hafei Saibao 6475 5748 12.6 34 Volvo S40 5666 6391 -11.3 35 VW Gol 3576 4770 -25.0 36 Haima3 3486 8901 -60.8 37 Citroen Picasso 3365 6852 -50.9 SouEast Shi Ling (Old 38 1433 4433 -67.7 Lancer)

39 Toyota Prius 899 0 -

The VW Jetta refuses to give up its strangle hold on the Chinese marketplace, despite it being a very old design, it still remains popular in China in a variety of applications, chiefly taxi use, but also for private buyers who appreciate its economic values. The new Buick Excelle came in second, but with sales being down 10% on the 2007 model, perhaps the new Buick Execlle’s design is not to every ones tastes.

In 2007, there were seven manufacturers in the compact car segment that achieved sales of 10,000 units or greater, in 2008 eight manufacturers have gained sales of 10,000 sales or higher. The car that performed the worst must be the SouEast Shi Ling with sales 1433, this is not surprising as the car is sold alongside the newer Lancer. The Citroen Picasso, and Haima3 have both had a disappointing year, both models didn’t reach an average sales rate of 300 cars per month. The Picasso was recently updated for the Chinese market, but it hasn’t won any more buyers. Haima had pinned a lot of hope onto the Haima3, but it seems that consumers haven’t taken to that model either.

Mid Size Sedans The midsize sedan market is not as big as the compact market, but it does have a few heavy bruisers which always come in the top 5. Year on Year Rank Model 2008 Sales 2007 Sales Change （%） 1 VW Santana 197934 203134 -2.6 2 Honda Accord 170517 118024 44.5 3 Toyota Camry 153532 170294 -9.8 4 VW Passat 100902 120432 -16.2 5 Mazda6 69794 53994 29.3 6 Nissan Teana 58372 37803 54.4 7 Buick Lacrose 52719 71500 -26.3 8 VW Magotan 52506 27235 92.8 9 Brilliance BS4 52307 82312 -36.5 10 FAW Bestur 50018 23279 114.9 11 Toyota Reiz 46953 46299 1.4 12 Chervolet Epica 43149 41702 3.5 13 Ford Mondeo 39621 44912 -11.8 14 Audi A4 19728 19733 0.0 15 Brilliance BS4 18741 32588 -42.5 16 Hyundai Sonata 17265 25528 -32.4 17 Citroen Triomphe 14830 31314 -52.6 18 BMW 3 Series 13975 12953 7.9 19 Roewe 750 13608 16388 -17.0

20 BYD F6 10250 0 - 21 JAC Bin Yue 9263 0 - 22 Hyundai Sonata NF 7539 13882 -45.7 23 Mercedes C-Class 7321 0 - 24 6127 16386 -62.6 25 Mitsubishi Galant 4233 9793 -56.8 26 Kia Optima 4103 6700 -38.8

The Santana, despite its age, always manages to hold onto the top position, the Accord and the Camry have had a long going competition in China, although it appears that the Accord has come out on top in the end of year sales, despite being trumped by the Camry most of the way through the year. The previous generation Passat still manages to outsell the newer Magotan, despite VW’s media campaigns. The Chery Eastar did not perform especially well, mostly due to its aging design when compared to the competition, however, the launch of the new Chery A6 later this year should turn things around for Chery in this segment. The big shock is the lack of an MG7, thet Roewe 750 is sitting at 19 th position, although sales are down on ’07, its still doing reasonably well. The late launch of an automatic MG7 has obviously hurt MG7 sales considerably, 99.9% of the cars sold in this category come with an automatic gearbox as standard. The Citroen Triomphe suffered a large setback in ’08 when compared to ’07 sales, it appears that Citroen are performing quite badly in every segment.

Full size sedans: Year on Year Rank Models 2008 Sales 2007Sales sales （%） 1 Audi A6L 86084 75172 14.5 2 Toyota Crown 45427 53111 -14.5 3 BMW 5 Series 21188 17647 20.1 4 Mercedes E class 7035 6882 2.2 5 Cadillac CTS/SLS 5904 6492 -9.1 6 Buick Park Avenue 4806 6145 -21.8 7 Chrysler 300C 3622 7959 -54.5

Sales in this segment are down across the board, the implementation of a new car sales tax based on engine displacement has obviously affected sales. The Chrysler 300C being affected the most.

MPV Sales: The MPV market has been very poor this year, with nearly every manufacturer taking a beating in this particular segment. Year on Year Rank Model 2008 Sales 2007 Sales Change （（（%））） 1 JAC Refine 36304 40006 -9.3 2 Buick GL8 36252 42494 -14.7

3 Honda Odyssey 28872 45827 -37.0 4 Dongfeng MPV 22010 20088 9.6 5 Jinbei MPV 12108 11900 1.7 6 VW Touran 12028 10586 13.6 7 Chery Eastar Cross 9522 6853 38.9 8 Haima Premacy 7030 8078 -13.0 9 Daihatsu Xenia 5059 2132 137.3 10 Ford S-Max 3918 4719 -17.0 11 Nissan Grand Livina 3797 58724 -93.5 12 Chery 1907 1818 4.9 13 Nissan Yumsun 1682 797 111.0 14 Mitsubishi 1170 2278 -48.6 15 Kia Carnival 1155 2416 -52.2 16 Great Wall MPV 1114 0 - 17 Landwind MPV 1048 1654 -36.6 18 Changan Jie Jun 509 196 159.7

SUV Sales The Honda CRV continues to rule the roost, but domestic makes such as tiny Zotye, and Chery have upset the top 10 with their domestically made products: Year on Year Rank Model 2008 Sales 2007 Sales Change （%） 1 Honda CRV 80607 45686 76.4 2 Great Wall Hover 56669 58452 -3.1 3 50157 50098 0.1 4 Zotye 2008 48619 31377 55.0 5 Hyundai Tucson 40514 44729 -9.4 6 Kia Sportage 32500 5713 468.9 7 Nissan Qashqai 23772 0 - 8 Changfeng Liebao 17693 16156 9.5 9 Toyota Prado 13648 11028 23.8% 10 Hua Tai Santefe 11387 6463 76.2 11 JAC Eagle 10251 7605 34.8 12 Nissan Paladin 9735 9605 1.4 13 Zhongxing 9598 10771 -10.9 14 Gonow 9401 10098 -6.9

15 Changfeng Pajero 8525 6764 26.0 16 Chevrolet Captiva 8304 1384 500.0 17 Huanghai 6752 10464 -35.5 18 Zotye 5008 4872 0 - 19 Toyota Landcruiser 4734 2511 88.5 20 Landwind 4302 7776 -44.7 21 Nissan X-Trail 4166 0 - 22 Dongfeng Aoting 3306 2721 21.5 23 HuaTai Terracan 2024 788 156.9 24 Buick Enclave 1012 0 - 25 Cadillac Captiva 436 368 18.5 26 Cadillac SRX 252 159 58.5 As we can see, the SUV market hasn’t taken a beating like SUV markets in Western countries, if anything, the opposite has happened and there is a greater demand for compact SUV’s in China, but larger SUVs do cater to a small minority.