China August 2014: VW Sagitar and Haval H6 hit highest rankings, Baojun 730 directly above 12,000 sales

The Baojun 730 sells 12,006 units for its first month in market.

* See the Top 320 all-local models and Top 64 brands by clicking on the title! *

It’s always fascinating to me that when Chinese new light vehicles improve by 9% year-on-year like this month in August, most analysts speak of a ‘slowdown’. This rate of sales increase is hardly a slowdown (it was 10% in July) and when talking about the largest new vehicle market in the world, it actually is an astounding performance, that keeps being repeated month after month. The total sales for August stand at 1,468,200 new light vehicles including 910,800 sedans (+1%), 311.300 SUVs (+30%), 145,900 MPVs (+38%) and 100,200 micro vans (-8%). Year-to-date, the figure now stands at 12,459,500 units, also up an extremely robust 11% on 2013.

Haval H6 Sport

Brand-wise, General Motors is up 14% to 280,178 sales, Ford is up 9% to 77,506 but Japanese automakers struggled: Honda is down 6% to 52,513 units and Nissan down 11% to 85,500 but Toyota kept pace with industry sales: up 9% to 78,500 vehicles. The above data includes imports and was communicated by manufacturers directly. As you know monthly data published online by Chooseauto.com. excludes imports. In this ranking Volkswagen is still the best-selling brand by far with 216,734 sales ahead of Hyundai, Toyota, Buick and Ford. Note Haval strong at #14, Geely back up two spots to #18, Beijing Auto up 7 to #20 and Baojun up 19 to #25.

VW Golf

In the models ranking, the Wuling Hongguang remains way above the competition at 56,502 units, with the VW Lavida (-12%) and Ford Focus (-9%) in tow. The VW Sagitar is up one spot on July to land at #4, the nameplate’s best-ever ranking (also reached in August 2013), while the Haval H6 continues to impress month after month: it now breaks into the Chinese Top 5 for the very first time thanks to 25,710 sales, up 23% year-on-year. The Santana and Jetta make it 4 Volkswagens in the Top 7, the Hyundai Elantra Langdong gets a boost, up 7 ranks on last month and 35% year-on-year to #8, the VW Golf hits the mark at +135% and a record #14 spot while the Toyota Corolla maintains itself inside the Top 20 at #17 vs. #39 year-to-date thanks to the new generation.

Nissan X-Trail

Excellent hold of the Kia K3 up 40% at #21 and of the ChangAn Eado up 110% at #23, the Nissan X-Trail breaks its volume record again at 12,391 units in 24th place, the Baojun 730 astounds with a #26 landing at 12,006 sales (see China August 2014: focus on the all-new models for all the info), the Chery Tiggo3 improves to 11,454 units at #28, the Emgrand EC7 is back up 36 spots to #32 but down 20% year-on-year and the Honda Fit remains inside the Top 50 at #48 with sales up 164% on August 2013 thanks to the new model.

Previous post: China July 2014: Now updated with Top 10 LCVs

Previous month: China July 2014: Market up 10% thanks to MPV and SUV sales

One year ago: China August 2013: Great Wall Haval H6 breaks sales record again

Full August 2014 Top 320 All-local models and Top 64 brands Ranking Tables below.