Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

Will the ChangAn Eado be the Chinese model to crack Western Europe?

* See the full article by clicking on the title! *

We have covered how Chinese models were struggling to rule their own market, but how do their fare outside of China? Based on all the data I have been collecting on Best Selling Cars Blog, there are at least 13 countries and territories in the world where a Chinese or Chinese-manufactured model managed to break into the Top 10.

Jinbei Haise, sold as Pyeonghwa Samchunri in North Korea

The country where Chinese models are most successful in terms of ranking (but not sales) is, unsurprisingly, neighbour North Korea: local manufacturer Pyeonghwa assembles Chinese models and they dominate the (still very quiet) streets: the Samchunri, a rebadged Jinbei Haise, is likely to be the best-seller ahead of rebadged versions of the Brilliance BS4, FSV and Huanghai Shuguan.

Great Wall Wingle

Two other countries/territories have had a Chinese model top their ranking, and only one officially: in Tajikistan, the Changhe Freedom must have been the best-selling car in the country for a couple of years before such minivans were abruptly banned over safety concerns in 2010. In New Caledonia, the Great Wall Wingle made history last November when it lead the tiny market while the DongFeng Utah (aka Rich) was up to #7 last May.

The Chery A5 is sold as Speranza A516 in Egypt

In Egypt, Chery manufactures its models under the brand Speranza with outstanding success: it has been the 4th best-selling passenger car brand in Egypt since 2008, selling more than Toyota since 2009! The Speranza A516 ranked #9 at year-end from 2007 to 2009. In 2011 the best-selling Chinese model was the Speranza Tiggo at #14 (and #9 in December), with the A113 (#11 in December), M11, JMC Pick-up, Brilliance FSV and FRV also popular. The Changhe Freedom landed directly #28 for its first month last February.

Great Wall Deer

Chinese manufacturers have launched a full-scale ‘invasion’ of the African and Middle-Eastern car markets but the absence of regular official figures makes it hard to measure properly. In Iraq the Great Wall Deer (a rebadged previous generation Toyota Hilux) and Sailor (a rebadged Nissan Frontier) should be among the best-sellers, in Madagascar JAC was #5 with 7.3% share in Q2 2010 thanks to the JAC Tojoy (aka Tongyue) and in Cote d’Ivoire Great Wall was #10 in 2010 at 3.8% with the Hover most popular.

The Holland Car Abay is a rebadged Lifan 520

In Ethiopia, Lifan and JAC have cooperated with Holland Car, the country’s first car brand, to assemble models locally and the Abay, a rebadged Lifan 520, is starting to get noticed in the crazy Addis Ababa traffic. Holland Car’s range also includes the Tekeze (JAC Tongyue hb), Awash (JAC B-Class) and Shebele (JAC B-Cross).

Geely Emgrand EC7

The Chinese had delayed their formal Western European launch on the back of disastrous crash tests for the Brilliance BS6 and Landwind SUV in 2007. This is now changing with the Geely Emgrand EC7 getting 4 NCAP stars late last year, and ChangAn harbouring great ambitions for its new Eado – pictured on top of this article.

Great Wall Hover

The only country in Western Europe with established Chinese brands, Italy made history last December when the Great Wall Hover reached an amazing 32nd place, the first time a Chinese model ranked within the Top 50 of a major European country. Chery has made a habit of creating new brands in the countries it assembles in order to appear more local and in Italy it sells as DR Motor, with the DR1 the best-selling Chinese model in Western Europe in 2011 at #259.

MG5

We can’t leave Western Europe without mentioning MG, now the property of SAIC and reintroduced in the UK market last year with the MG6 but to disappointing results. Will the MG5 fare better? Answer later this year when the model is scheduled to launch in the UK.

The best-selling Chinese export in the world in 2012?

But Eastern Europe and most significantly South America are two regions where Chinese manufacturers have truly established some very solid foundations for large scale success in the near future. Plus the best-selling Chinese export in the world in 2012 may be a…Chevrolet! Discover all this after the jump by clicking on ‘Read more’ below!

To see the rest of the article click on ‘Read more’ below!

Geely CK

In Ukraine, the Geely CK ranked #10 last month at 1.9% share, with Geely also placing the Emgrand EC7 at #34 and the MK at #38. Local manufacturer ZAZ badge-engineers the Chery Fulwin 2 as the ZAZ Forza, #21 over the Full Year 2011. But the biggest move yet by the Chinese in Eastern Europe was the opening of a Great Wall factory in Lovech, Bulgaria, in February 2012, the very first Chinese car manufacturer factory in the whole of Europe and the focal point for the brand’s expansion in the continent.

Lifan Solano

In Moscow in November 2011, the Great Wall Hover is #45, the Vortex Tingo (aka Chery Tiggo) is #91 and the Lifan Solano, a favourite with Moscow Police, is #154.

DongFeng Cargo Van

In Dominican Republic, the BYD F3 was #9 in 2010 but is down 86% in 2011. The DongFeng Cargo Van is now the Chinese best-seller there, #14 in 2011 and up 342% on 2010. It is followed by the Jinbei Haise, up 171% to #18, and the Dongfeng Minitruck at #21. In Peru over the first 5 months 2011 Chery is #9, Great Wall is #12, JAC is #17 and Geely is #19. In Paraguay Great Wall is #14 in 2011 and in Cuba the Geely CK is already very common in the streets of La Habana as a police car and the Emgrand EC7 was part of second batch of Chery cars shipped to Cuba last October.

JAC J3

Great Wall V240

A North American launch can be ‘test-driven’ with the Australian market, very similar in its structure: Toyota did so in the mid-sixties when it started assembling the Corolla locally only one year after its Japanese launch. The Chinese brand are following the same path and I already wrote about this in Australia Full Year 2011: The Chinese have landed! Great Wall already ranks within the Top 20 and the Great Wall V240 (aka Wingle) is the best-selling Chinese model in Australia at #64 0ver the Full Year 2011, peaking at #54 in May.

Chevrolet N300

In 2012, the best-selling Chinese models overseas may be…Chevrolets! General Motors sells the Wuling Hongtu as the Chevrolet N200 in some markets (#31 in Colombia in 2011) and the Wuling Rongguang as the Chevrolet N300 (#37 in Colombia in 2011 and #30 in Egypt in January 2012). However Chevrolet’s biggest Chinese export success to date is the Sail: it ranked #2 at 7.7% share in Algeria last October and #2 in January 2012 in Chile!

Source: All usual sources for each country.

If you have any additional information about specific sales of Chinese models overseas please make sure to get in touch by commenting on this article!