China Full Year 2012: Ford Focus triumphs

Ford Focus

* See the Top 304 all-models ranking by clicking on the title! *

The Chinese new Passenger Vehicle market slows down its growth in 2012 to a still very respectable 6% year-on-year to 14,682,215 units. The models pole position changes hands for the third consecutive year: after the BYD F3 in 2010 and the Buick Excelle in 2011, the Ford Focus brilliantly takes the lead in 2012 with 296,360 sales, up 57% on 2011. The Focus led the monthly ranking for 6 of the last 7 months of the year and hit an all-time monthly record of 38,362 units in November. Its annual total is also a new all-time record for any model in China, beating the 291,010 units sold by the BYD F3 in 2009. In fact the Focus wasn’t #1 in the Year-to-date ranking until December, with the Buick Excelle, up 9% year-on-year but down to #3, leading most of the year.

Chevrolet Sail

The Chevrolet Sail also delivers a fantastic performance, up 41% to 279,740 sales. Before 2012, only the BYD F3 had managed to ever sell over 30,000 monthly units. This year 4 models did this for the first time: the VW Passat (up 41% to #6 in the Full Year) passed that milestone in January, the Chevrolet Sail in May, Ford Focus in September and VW Lavida in November. One of the biggest events of the year in China was the impact the tensions with Japan over the Denku islands had over Chinese car sales, with all but one Japanese model kicked out of the Top 50 in October.

VW Magotan

Other great performers atop the Chinese ranking this year include the Hyundai Verna up 46% to #10, VW Sagitar up 54% to #11, VW Magotan up 93% to #12, Buick Excelle XT/GT up 29% to #13, VW Tiguan up 34% to #14, Nissan Tiida up 31% to #20, Kia K2 up 145% to #22, Audi A6L up 23% to #23, BMW 5 Series L up 65% to #36 and Audi Q5 up 54% to #46.

Emgrand EC7

Progressing through the ranking all year, the Emgrand EC7 takes the title of most popular local Passenger Car in 2012, up 52% and 26 spots to #17 with 146,516 sales and breaking into the monthly Top 10 for the first time in December. It was however a disappointing year for Chinese models: the FAW Xiali N3/N5 is down 26% to #19, Chery QQ down 5% to #21, Great Wall Voleex C30 down 4% to #27 and BYD F3 down 32% to #30. The Great Wall Haval H6 led the local charts for most of the year and finishes 2012 at #33 with 112,262 units for its first full year in market.

Great Wall Haval M4

A testament to how dynamic the Chinese market is, there are no less than 43 all-new models in the ranking in 2012. The Hyundai Elantra Langdong leads the charge at #54 with 80,460 sales, peaking at #8 in December, followed by the Chevrolet Malibu at #87, Great Wall Haval M4 at #92 and Great Wall Voleex C50 at #100. Notice also new low-cost Nissan brand Venucia placing the R50/50 at #108, the BYD F3 Surui (new generation) at #109, Zotye Z300 at #141, Brilliance H230 at #159, low cost model Ciimo Si Ming at #181, Fiat Viaggio at #192 and plug-in hybrid Roewe E50 at #291.

Previous post: China December 2012: New generation VW Jetta up to #2

Previous year: China Full Year 2011: Buick Excelle best-seller after 4 years at #2

Full Year 2012 Top 304 all-models Ranking Table below.