China May 2011: VW Lavida on top, Nissan Sunny in Top 10

VW Lavida

* See the Top 200 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at the end of the post! *

New car sales in China are starting to reflect purchase limits put in place in some cities (Beijing being one of them) to try and address traffic congestion. The market is down 4% in May at 1.382.800 units but still up 4% to 7.916.200 over the first 5 months of the year.

For the 6th time in the last 12 months, the VW Lavida is the best-selling passenger car in China with 22,602 units changing hands this month, reinforcing its leadership over the year with 108,646 sales, nearly 10,000 units above the #2, the VW Jetta at 99,409.

Nissan Sunny

At #2 the Buick Excelle reaches its best position since last October with 19,398 sales and ranks #3 year-to-date at 98,530 units. The BYD F3 seems to have lost its grip over the Chinese market for good, slipping down to #3 in May at 19,013 units and #4 over the year at 97,294.

This month’s best performance goes to the Nissan Sunny, up no less than 30 spots over April to land in 7th position, its first time within the Chinese Top 10. Other good performers include the Buick Excelle XT/GT at #15 (+10), the Hyundai Verna at #17 (+21), the Hawtai Santa Fe at #23 (+10) and the Hyundai ix35 at #30 (+44).

BYD L3

Based on the latest generation Toyota Corolla, so perhaps a replacement for the F3, the new BYD L3 is up 39 spots this month to #89 with 3,495 sales and the Everus S1, launched last month, climbs 20 spots to #107 with 2,804 sales.

Full Top 200 Ranking table below.