China 8 months 2014: Discover the Top 366 models ranking!

After just 8 months, the Wuling Hongguang has already broken the all-time Passenger Car annual sales record it set in 2013…

* See the Top 366 All-local PCs and Top 50 All-local models by clicking on the title! *

As is the tradition on BSCB, after exploring the monthly ranking for China, we go into the year-to-date sales charts to try and extract longer-term trends. After 8 months the Chinese new car market is up a robust 11% on 2013 to 12,459,500 units, excluding LCVs. The first striking observation when looking at this year’s models ranking is the Wuling Hongguang now totalling 483,159 units after just 8 months – more than double its result from a year ago after a sales re-adjustment. This projects into around 775,000 sales by the time 2014 comes to an end as the last few month of the calendar year are traditionally the busiest in China. But more significantly it means the Hongguang has already surpassed its Full Year 2013 tally (448,484 units) which was then an all-time annual sales record for any Passenger Car since the creation of automobile! Talk about a smashed record…

The VW Tiguan is now among the 10 best-selling passenger cars in China.

The VW Lavida (332,813) and Ford Focus (260,993) remain on the podium but slow down their growth due to declines in August. The rest of the Top 6 is 100% Volkswagen like last month with the Santana up 104% to #4, the Sagitar up 12% to #5 and the Jetta up 27% to #6, now all above 200,000 sales. The Haval H6 remains the best-selling SUV in the country thanks to sales up 52% to a record 195,372 units in 7th place. The only change in the year-to-date Top 10 is the VW Tiguan up two spots on last month to #10 with 168,234 units (+26%), relegating the Chevrolet Cruze into #12 while the Buick Excelle XT/GT and VW Bora overtake the VW Passat to rank #12 and #13 respectively. The Hyundai Elantra Langdong is back to being the brand’s best-seller and now ranks above the Verna and the Chevy Sail at #15.

The BYD S6 is the 8th Chinese Passenger Car inside the Top 50 so far in 2014.

There are 8 Chinese models inside the Top 50 like last month: below the Hongguang and Haval H6, the ChangAn Eado is up one spot to #26 (+88%), the Chana Honor remains #31 (+78%), the Dongfeng Future is down one to #33 (+20%), the Emgrand EC7 stays at #38 (-30%) as does the Venucia D50/R50 stable at #48 (+14%) while the BYD S6 (#49) replaces the ChangAn CS35 (#52) and the Roewe 350 is down 4 spots to #50. Close behind we have the Dongfeng Joyear (#51), BYD F3 (#55) and Great Wall M4 (#56).

The Honda Jade is one of 6 all-new models in the Chinese Top 100.

As far as newcomers are concerned, with the new generation Ford Mondeo now one year-old, there is only one all-new nameplate inside the Top 50: the Hyundai Mistra gaining one spot to #34 with 83,944 sales. The next best thing is the Chery Tiggo 5 at #65 with 55,871 units (+2), followed by the Toyota Yaris L at #70 (-2), the Peugeot 301 at #71 (stable), Chery E3 at #83 (-2) and the Honda Jade at #93 (+5). Other notable new models atop the Chinese ranking this year include the Zotye T600 at #118, the Suzuki S-Cross at #123, the Chevrolet Trax at #140, the Peugeot 2008 at #144, Audi A3 at #181, the Baojun 730 landing directly at #183 and the Fiat Ottimo at #192.

Wuling Light Truck in Kashgar – Xingjiang Uyghur

Thanks to LMC Automotive, we now also have access to the best-selling Light Commercial Vehicles in the country for August, and this time the Wuling Hongguang shoots back up 7 spots on July to #3 overall with 33,481 sales vs. #4 year-to-date while the Wuling Sunshine is down 7 to #10 at just 22,779 units. The Wuling Light Truck is the only mass-selling LCV to perform well over its year-to-date level at #12 with 21,735 sales vs. #23 so far in 2014. Note also the Chana Mini Bus down to #23 vs. #9 year-to-date, the Foton Forland down to #28 vs. #12 but the Beijing Auto Minibus up to #46 vs. #56.

Previous post: China August 2014: Focus on the all-new models

Previous monthly post: China August 2014: VW Sagitar and Haval H6 hit highest rankings

Previous month: China 7 months 2014: Haval H6 up to record 7th place

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

One year ago: China 8 months 2013: Discover the Top 326 All-models ranking!

Full Top 366 passenger cars and Top 50 models Ranking Tables below.