China December 2011: Honda Accord and Great Wall Haval impress

Great Wall Haval H5 Special Edition

* See the Top 250 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

This month I have split China into 2 articles as there is too much to talk about! You can see the China Full Year 2011 article here.

In December we have a surprise leader: the Honda Accord with 25,036 sales! The last time the Accord was #1 in China was December 2008, a few months after its relaunch. The Accord had seen its sales slip down a fair bit recently, going down as far as #47 last May so this newfound (albeit temporary) leadership is a welcome breath of fresh air for Honda, also placing the City at #7 and the CR-V at #9.

Honda Accord

The second main event this month is the third place of the Great Wall Haval, improving on its first ever entrance into the Chinese monthly Top 10 last month with 20,776 sales, making it by far the best-selling Chinese model in December. Keep in mind these figures include the Haval H3, H5 and H6 which are quite distinct vehicles. The rest of the Top 5 is composed of the usual suspects: the VW Lavida is down 1 spot to #2 and way ahead of its archenemy the Buick Excelle (down to #17), the VW Bora is up to #4 ahead of the Chevrolet Sail.

Citroen C-Quatre

The BYD S6 continues its seemingly unstoppable progression, up 10 spots on November to #16 with 15,012 sales, the Citroen C-Quatre hits its highest ranking in 2 years at #24 with 12,172 units, the Hyundai Sonata is at a best-ever #28, the Mercedes E-Class has a huge month at 10,406 sales and #37, up 96 spots on November and the Baojun 630 knocks at the Top 50’s door for its 5th month in the market, up 20 spots on November to #51 with 8,019 units.

Gleagle GC7

Among models recently launched, the Peugeot 308 is up 27 spots to #78 with 5,953 sales for its 2nd month in the country, the BYD G6 is up 53 ranks to #87 with 5,090 units for its third month of activity, after a few months at very low levels the MG7 takes off at #137 with 2,357 sales and the Hawtai B35 is up to #193. There are 3 new models this month but they are pretty discreet: the Riich G3 is #166 at 1,246 units, the Gleagle GC7 is #176 with 916 sales and the Gleagle China Dragon is #233 at 62 units.

Previous month: China November 2011: Great Wall Haval up to best-ever #7

Previous year: China December 2010: Great Wall Tengyi up to #3

Full December 2011 Top 250 Ranking Table below.