Analysis of China's Sedan Sales in December 2017

Analysis of China's Sedan Sales in December 2017

Summary

Analysis of China's Sedan Sales in December 2017

According to the data released by China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), China's sedan sales reached 1,206,652 units in December, down 3.4% year on year. Due to the rising of SUV market shares, sedan sales accounted for 46.4% of the total sales of passenger vehicles in December, down 1.8% compared with November. The cumulative sedan sales reached 11,879,598 units with a year-on-year drop of 1.9% throughout 2017.

In December, German and American brands saw slight YoY sedan sales growth. Self-owned sedan brands boasted large YoY sales rise. Specifically, sales of self-owned sedans rose 11.58% year on year to 282,440 units, lagging behind German brands with a slight sales gap. Deliveries of German-branded sedans totaled 309,843 units with a YoY increase of 0.57%, taking up 25% shares of the sedan market. The Japanese sedans suffered 7.57% year-on-year drop to 226,501 units.

American-branded sedans reached sales of 225,857 units, up 1.62% over the previous year. Though American-branded sedans followed Japanese-branded sedans with sales gap less than 1,000 units, it posted smaller YoY sales growth compared with last month. Korean brands saw YoY sales drop and MoM sales growth in December to 121,571 units. Hyundai and KIA released small-size vehicles with lower entry-level prices, indicating that Korean brands will rival self-owned brands to snatch the market share in China. French-branded sedans deliveries were 30,274 units, slumping 45.78% compared with the same period last year.

As to segments, sales of A-class sedan took up 61% of the sedan segment market to 736,293 units. With nearly 30,000 units less than November sales, it suffered a year-on-year sales drop of 7.99%. 48,391 units of A00-class were sold in December, soaring 105.05% year on year. The A0-class sedan posted sales of 168,689 units, sliding 4.53% over the previous year. It also saw a month-on-month sales drop in December. The B-class sedan deliveries reached 204,498 units, down 0.73% year on year. The C-class reached 48,781units with an increase of 15.42% on an annual basis.

Among the top ten automakers by December sedan sales, SAIC-GM took the lead with deliveries of 161,525 units, up 9.8% year on year. FAW-VW ranked third with an apparent MoM drop but a year-on-year increase of 8.1% to 119,873 units. SAIC-VW endured a year-on-year sales fall of 11% to 141,187 units.

During December, six of the top ten automakers suffered YoY sales drop. With deliveries of 77,005 units in December, Dongfeng Nissan took the fourth place of the sedan sales among the top ten automakers, but has a large gap with the third automaker. Beijing Hyundai sold 74,735 units with a year-on-year slump of 23.8%, ranking fifth among the top ten. Dongfeng Yueda KIA delivered 46,836 sedans, dropping 22.4% year on year. Changan Ford posted deliveries of 64,332 units, a decrease of 14.4% on an annual basis, ranking sixth among the top ten. Geely Auto, with deliveries reaching 59,833 units, saw a year-on-year drop of 11%. Soaring 115.9% year on year, SGMW entered the top ten list with deliveries of 41,268 units. GAC Honda remained the tenth with deliveries of 37,786 units in December, down 11% year on year.

As to the top ten models by December sedan sales, the Lavida remained the sales champion with deliveries of 45,554 units, jumping 21.32% year on year. With a slight sales gap with the Lavia, the Sylphy was the second best-selling sedan with a YoY increase of 0.71% to 44,141 units. The new Excelle grabbed the third place of top ten models, growing 29.04% over the previous year to 40,939 units.

Notably, The Baojun 310, a self-owned brand model, with deliveries reaching 35,048 units in December, took the fourth place among the top ten, increasing 9.09% year on year.

Gasgoo's chart shows that sales of the last five models among the top ten remained large sales gap with the top five models. Sales of the Cavalier soared 44.1% year on year to 21,379 units, bottoming the top ten models. Another popular self-owned model, the Emgrand EC7 saw its ranking improvement with sales reached 22,090 units in December.