China September 2010

Buick Excelle

True to its new status as the biggest car market in the world, China features 32 models above 10,000 sales this month, vs. 23 in the USA. Leading the pack is the Buick Excelle, confirming General Motors’ excellent shape in this part of the world. The hatchback version, the Excelle XT (aka Opel Astra), is also going strong in 24th at 11,404 sales.

Following very closely are the Hyundai Elantra Yuedong, a version of the Korean best-seller exclusive to China, and the VW Lavida, also a model built exclusively for the Chinese market.

After a couple of months at #1, the VW Jetta falls to 4th this month. It is based on the 1984 generation of the European VW Jetta and a 2010 restyling gave it a second wind in the last few months.

In 5th and getting stronger every month is the Chevrolet Cruze with no less than 17,264 sales this month, ahead of the the FAW Xiali N Series, with an excellent 17,243 sales thanks to the arrival of the new N5 model (pictured below the fold).

The #1 car in the year-to-date ranking, the BYD F3, is going through a bit of a rough time: it hasn’t been #1 since June and is only 14th this month. However, its domination during the first half of the year was such that it is still way ahead in the 2010 rankings with 198,388 sales.

Full Top 50 Ranking table and more commentaries below.