China 2001: Market above 2 million units, VW Jetta outsells Santana, Great Wall, Chery, BYD land

Chery makes its entrance in the charts with a Seat Toledo produced under license.

For the first time in Chinese history, new vehicle sales top 2 million in 2001 at 2,100,233 units, up 12.4% year-on-year. Volkswagen (+4%) once again can’t keep up with the market growth but comfortably stays in the brands top spot. Like last year, it is followed by Changan (+24.7%) and Hafei (+17%). Wuling (+7.3%) and Changhe (+18.2%) both advance two spots to #4 and #5, overtaking FAW (-5.3%) down to #6 and FAW Tianjin (-31%) down to #8. Foton (+3.2%) remains in 7th place. Buick (+91%) storms past Citroen (+1.4%) to become the 2nd best-selling foreign carmaker in China at #11 vs. #12 for Citroen. At #13, Honda (+62.4%) comes in strong. Notable arrivals include Great Wall at #19, Chery at #22 and BYD at #44. Geely (+89.4%) is up to #24.

The four top spots in the models ranking are occupied by LCVs and can be treated separately. The Changan Star (+24.3%) reaffirms its domination above the Hafei Carry (+18.6%), Foton Forland (+3.2%) and Changhe CH6300 (+13%). In 5th place but best-selling Passenger Car for the first time is the VW Jetta (+2.5%) overtaking the VW Santana (-13.6%). Strikingly, the top 4 best-selling PC in 2001 are all Volkswagen vehicles: add the Santana 2000 (-14.4%) and Passat (+114.4%), the latter making a thunderous entrance inside the overall Top 10 at #10. Below, the FAW Tianjin Xiali (-31.5%) freefalls to #11, the Citroen ZX Fukang (+1.6%) is down one spot to #13 and the Honda Accord (+58.3%) is up three to #14. The Great Wall Deer lands at #19 and the Chery Fengyun at #21.

Full Year 2001 Top 75 All brands and Top 204 All models vs. Full Year 2000 figures below.