China 5 months 2013: VW Lavida and Ford Focus double sales

The Hawtai Lusheng E70 is one of 50 all-new models in the Chinese ranking (#282).

* See the Top 315 All-models ranking by clicking on the title! *

Now that we have explored May sales in detail and focused on the 5 all-new models entering the Chinese ranking this month, let’s have a closer look at the year-to-date sales charts to extract longer-term trends. Overall the Chinese Passenger Car market is up 15% year-on-year after 5 months in 2013 to a record 7,261,600 sales. The Top 2 best-sellers continue to smash records, both almost doubling their sales year-on-year: the VW Lavida is up 90% to 185,957 units while the Ford Focus is up 87% to 154,198 sales. The Buick Excelle takes advantage of a slightly weaker month of May from the Chevrolet Sail to climb back on the year-to-date podium at 124,832 units, up just 2% and down from the pole position it held at the same time last year.

The ZhongXing Landmark ranks #229 so far in 2013 in China (+12%).

The VW Sagitar delivers the biggest year-on-year gain of the Top 10 thanks to the new model, up 135% and 27 spots to #5 with 113,506 sales. It leads a series of 4 consecutive Volkswagens in the ranking, making it 5 in the Top 8 so far in 2013: the Passat at #6, Jetta at #7 and Bora at #8. The Nissan Sylphy also impresses once again at +84% and 20 ranks to #9 at 93,986 units, the best-selling Japanese model in China so far in 2013 ahead of the Honda CR-V (#16), Toyota Camry (#21) and Corolla (#26).

The Chevrolet Captiva lands at #123, 13th most popular all-new model in China.

As it has been the case pretty much since its launch last August, the Hyundai Elantra Langdong is the most popular all-new model in the Chinese ranking at #13 with 85,247 sales, ahead of the Kia K3 at #30 and 57,555 units and the BYD F3 Surui at #32 with 53,803 sales. There are no less than 50 all-new models in the ranking but a more reasonable 11 in the Top 100, including the ChangAn Yuexiang V3 at #64, Hyundai Santa Fe at #69, Ford Kuga at #76, Brilliance H230 at #82, Buick Encore at #95 and Peugeot 3008 at #100.

The 1998 Hyundai Sonata is still on sale in China with a front grille facelift (#192).

As far as local models are concerned, the Great Wall Haval H6 confirms the pole position it snapped last month, ranking #18 with 74,653 sales ahead of the Emgrand EC7 at #19 and 73,044 units, the Great Wall Voleex C30 at #23 and Chery QQ at #24. There are only 11 locals in the Top 50 so far in 2013, including the Dongfeng Future at #37 (+67%), Great Wall Haval M4 at #39 (+1196%), BYD L3 at #42 (+51%) and Roewe 350 at #50 (+41%).

The Hafei Saima is becoming rarer (-80% to #289)…

The local low-cost model race now has a clear winner: the Venucia R50/D50 is up 371% year-on-year to #56 with 36,069 sales while the Baojun 630 is already down 19% to #78 at 26,843 units. Both the Linian S1 at #172 and the Ciimo Si Ming at #182 have never taken off. Other interesting developments include the Zotye Z300 up 3753% to #94 and the Beijing E-Series (a clone of the previous gen Mercedes B-Class) up 1535% to #125. A couple of oddities to notice: the 1998 Hyundai Sonata (two generations ago) still on sale as the Sonata MoInca (#192) and the 2000 Elantra (also two generations ago) at #132 while the Hafei Saima’s distinctive bonnet is slowly disappearing from Chinese roads (-80%)…

Previous post: China May 2013: Focus on the all-new models

May update: China May 2013: VW Lavida leads, Ford Ecosport up

Previous month: China 4 months 2013: Great Wall Haval H6 now best-selling local

One year ago: China May 2012: Chevrolet Sail leads the way, Ford Focus #2

Full 5 months 2013 Top 315 All-models Ranking Table below.