China February 2012: When will Chinese cars rule at home?

Will the 2013 BYD F3 reclaim the title of best-selling car in China?

* See the Top 100 best-selling Chinese models by clicking on the title! *

Chinese models are improving their quality and design year after year and are starting to climb the sales ranks of many export countries. But before you can rule overseas, you need to rule at home, right? That’s what the Japanese and Korean industries did after all – granted, with the help of very restrictive import laws.

The facelifted model should help reboot local sales of Chery QQ

The thing is, Chinese brands are far from ruling in China, and things seem to be getting worse. One year ago, there were 34 Chinese models in the overall Top 100. This figure has gone down to 29 over the Full Year 2011 and 31 this month. Local models are stuck at the bottom of the ranking, with 59 locals between #101 and #200 and 37 between #200 and #250… Brand-wise, only BYD and Great Wall rank are in the Top 10.

FAW Xiali N5

Another recent big change and probably one of the main reasons the weakness of Chinese locals has been under the spotlight lately is the weakening of the BYD F3, formerly the best-selling passenger car overall but now only #4 among locals…The new generation can’t come fast enough. An old favourite, the FAW Xiali N3/N5, has reclaimed the pole position both over the Full Year 2011 and in February. Great Wall keeps improving, placing 2 models on the podium (vs. none one year ago): the Voleex C30 and Haval H3/H5/H6.

Chery E5

In 5th place this month, the Chery QQ is another local model that is starting to show signs of ageing – and will be renewed soon. Will it be enough to reverse the fortune of an entire industry? Probably not. Hope? There are 4 local newcomers (ie less than one year old) in the overall Top 100 this month: the BYD S6 is #7 Chinese/#29 overall, the Baojun 630, a genuine success story, is #9/44, the Chery E5 is #19/66 and the BYD G6 is #29/91.

Emgrand EC8

Other good performers among local models in February include the BYD L3 up from #49 Chinese one year ago to #10 this month, ChangAn CX20 up from #31 to #17, DongFeng Future up from #41 to #20, DongFeng Fengshang H30/S30 up from #39 to #25 and the Emgrand EC8 up from #69 to #36.

General Chinese post: China February 2012: Buick Excelle leads, Chevrolet Malibu arrives

One year ago: China February 2011: VW Lavida #1, VW Tiguan in Top 10, Sunny up

Full February 2012 Chinese models Top 100 Ranking Table below.