Australia Full Year 2011: The Chinese have landed!

Great Wall V240

* See the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to JB *

Given the Australian Full Year 2011 article (that I have just updated) is already quite full of information, I have created a separate post to zoom in on the performance of Chinese manufacturers in the country. There are now 3 Chinese brands present in Australia and this number is set to increase in the next few months.

Great Wall was the first to land Down Under 2 years ago and has seen its success confirmed this year, with most of its range already renewed. It is now the #16 brand in the country with 8,665 sales, up 30% on 2010 and way above brands like Lexus (6,347), Land Rover (5,832), Volvo (5,272) or Peugeot (5,220).

The best-selling Chinese model in Australia in 2011 is the Great Wall V240 (aka Wingle) at #64 in the general ranking with 4,384 sales and 0.4% share, up a massive 41% and 12 spots year-on-year. It reached its highest-ever position in May at #54 thanks to 434 sales (0.6%), as a Chinese model has yet to officially break into the monthly Australian Top 50 (but see below, it may have already happened…).

Chery J11

The Great Wall X240 (aka Hover) was last year’s Chinese best-seller but is now #2 and #77 overall with sales dipping slightly at 3,047 units and 0.3% (-7%). However this order is set to change again in 2012 with the new Great Wall V200 making great progress and leading the pack in December at #67 overall with 302 sales and 0.4%. The V200 is in effect the diesel variant of the V240 and in December both models add up to 539 sales to reach a brilliant 47th place…In 2012 the V200 and V240 will logically be counted together as the Great Wall V-Series.

Chery J3

Chery is all-new to Australia and landed with 4 brand new models in 2011, totalling 1,822 sales to rank #27 in the manufacturers ladder, above brands like Fiat, Citroen or Alfa Romeo. Not bad for a first year! The most successful so far has been the Chery J11 (aka Tiggo) at #133 with 1,114 sales and 0.1% over the full year however in December the Chery J3 is on top at #137 with 80 units sold. Other Chery models on sale are the J1 (#165 in 2011) and the A3 with 2 sales this year.

Lastly Geely has also launched in 2011 but only in Western Australia because of different design legislations in that state. The lack of optional automatic transmission and unavailability of electronic stability control has prevented it to be launched in any other Australian State and VFACTS doesn’t seem to report Geely’s sales which stand at an unconfirmed one unit for 2011…

Foton Tunland

At least one additional Chinese brand has been confirmed for Australia in 2012: Foton will try to emulate Great Wall’s success and launch the Foton Tunland ute in April. So stay tuned for updates during 2012…

See the Australia Full Year 2011 post here

Full Year and December 2011 Top 10 Ranking Table below.