China January 2014: Wuling Hongguang, VW Lavida and Buick Excelle XT/GT break records

Record-breaking month for the VW Santana.

* See the Top 66 All-brands and Top 320 All-modelss by clicking on the title! *

This month, new vehicle sales are up a further 6% on January 2013 which was already an all-time monthly record to reach 2.16 million registrations. 19 models sold more than 20,000 units in January (previous record: 15 in January 2013) and 51 sold over 10,000 (vs. 44 in January 2013), compared to 9 and 26 respectively in the US over the same period… Lots of monthly annual volume record broken this month, starting with the Top 2 best-sellers: the Wuling Hongguang reaches the unbelievable amount of 81,153 sales, up a huge 70% year-on-year and smashing its previous record of 64,096 units established in February 2013.

The Buick Excelle XT/GT breaks the 30,000 monthly sales mark for the first time.

The VW Lavida for its part breaks its previous record from January 2013 by a massive 28% to hit 61,568 sales, its first time above both the 50,000 and 60,000 annual unit-milestones and only the second passenger car with the Hongguang to ever reach these levels. The Ford Focus is the only model in the Top 5 to not break its monthly volume record, but is still growing faster than the market at +8% to 36,385 sales. The Buick Excelle XT/GT is up 44% on its previous best from one year ago, passing the 30,000 sales mark for the first time at 34,176 units, while the VW Santana boosted by the new generation is up a whopping 158% year-on-year to reach #5 with an all-time best 27,770 sales, smashing its previous record of 20,480 units reached last September.

61,568 VW Lavida found a buyer in China this month! 

Other record breakers in the Top 20 include the VW Sagitar at #9 and 26,686 sales (previous best: 26,184 in January 2013), the VW Polo at #13 and 24,646 (previous best: 17,202 in January 2013), the Haval H6 at #14 and 24,602 (previous best: 23,746 last month) and marking 7 consecutive months of all-time record sales (!), the VW Tiguan at 24,282 (previous best: 21,818 in January 2013), the Hyundai Elantra Langdong at 23,295 (previous best: 22,789 last September), the VW Magotan at 22,116 (previous best: 18,227 in March 2013) and the Audi A6L at 19,242 (previous best: 16,706 in January 2013). Yes you have read well, 6 of the 10 VAG Group models ranking inside this month’s Top 20 reach all-time record heights!

First 10,000+ sales month for the ChangAn CS35.

Further down, the ChangAn Honor is up to best-ever #24 and 15,952 sales, the Chevrolet Malibu is up 89% to #27 and 14,892 units, the ChangAn Eado amazingly become the 4th best-selling Chinese model this month at a record #31 and 13,754 sales, the Ford Kuga breaks its ranking and volume records at #34 and 12,030 units, the Buick GL8 is up 162 spots on December to #35, the Hyundai Mitsra up a further 9 ranks to #36 and 11,749 sales, the Chery E3 is up 6 to #42, the ChangAn CS35 breaks both the Top 50 ranking mark and the 10,000 monthly sales milestone for the first time at #43 with 10,550 units and the Citroen C-Elysee is back inside ethe Top 50 for the first time since January 2011 at #50 thanks to the new model.

The Toyota Yaris L breaks into the Top 100 for its 2nd month of sales.

As for other successful recent launches, let’s notice the Haima M3 up 13 spots on last month to #53 and 9,761 sales, the Dongfeng Fengguang up 14 to #60 and 8,939 units, the Beijing Weiwang M20 up 30 to #82 and 7,096 sales, the Toyota Yaris L up 81 to #83 and the Chery Tiggo 5 up 16 to #86, all last 3 models breaking into the monthly Chinese Top 100 for the very first time, something the Peugeot 301, up 48 ranks on December to #101, should also manage as early as next month. Finally, the DS5 is down 2 spots and 25% on its first month of sales to #214 with 951 units. There are 3 all-new models landing in the ranking this month, but this will the subject of a separate update, so stay tuned!

Previous post: China: The changing habits of car buyers

Full Year 2013 post: China Full Year 2013: Wuling Hongguang and VW Lavida on top

Previous month: China December 2013: Honda Crider breaks into Top 10

One year ago: China January 2013: VW Lavida smashes all-time monthly record

Full January 2014 Top 66 All-brands and Top 320 All-models Ranking Tables below.