China November 2013: Nissan Sylphy delivers best month ever for a Japanese model!

Never had a Japanese model sold as many monthly units in China as the Nissan Sylphy…

* See the Top 319 All-models ranking by clicking on the title! *

Sales of passenger cars in China gain a very robust 15% year-on-year in November to 1.63 million units, with the overall market including trucks up 13% on 2012 over the first 11 months of the year to 19.9 million, meaning China will be the first country in history to break the 20-million-a-year threshold. As a reminder, China grew by only 4% over the Full Year 2012. The Wuling Hongguang delivers an astounding 60,168 sales this month, 2.5 times its figure from a year ago and its 2nd best-ever monthly result below the 64,096 units it clocked up last February. This means the Hongguang takes the lead of the passenger cars sales charts in 2013 year-to-date at 406,711 units, blitzing past the VW Lavida at 400,729 sales and down 15% to #4 and 27,055 sales this month. The Hongguang and Lavida thus become the first ever passenger cars to sell more than 400,000 units in a single year in China.

The Haval H6 breaks its monthly volume record for the 5th month in a row!

A change of leader in China is a big event, granted, but not as big as what we witness in third position: the Nissan Sylphy triples its November 2012 score to reach 31,333 sales this month, becoming the 8th passenger car in the history of automobile in China to have sold more than 30,000 monthly units at least once and, most strikingly, the very first Japanese model to do so! Other members of this exclusive club are (in chronological order) the BYD F3, VW Passat, VW Lavida, Chevrolet Sail, Ford Focus, Wuling Hongguang and Buick Excelle. The previous monthly record for a Japanese model in China was held by the Honda Accord which sold 25,036 units back in December 2011.

The Emgrand EC7 makes it 3 Chinese passenger cars in the Top 10 for the first time in 3 years.

There are many more events in the Chinese models charts this month. Firstly the Haval H6 is up two spots on October to rank #8, its 2nd best-ever ranking after the #7 it hit last July, with an all-time high 23,026 sales, up 52% year-on-year, the 7th time it breaks its volume record this month and the 5th consecutive time it does so! The Emgrand EC7 also breaks its monthly sales record, for the 2nd consecutive month, at 20,953 units, gaining 26% year-on-year. This is only the second time ever the EC7 manages to climb into the Top 10 after hitting #10 in December 2012, and it means we have 3 Chinese passenger cars inside the national Top 10, a feat we haven’t witnessed since December 2010!

The Honda CRider is now among China’s Top 20 most popular models.

Other great performers this month in China include the Toyota RAV4 up 20 spots on October and 277% year-on-year to an all-time high #16 and 18,592 sales, the Honda Crider breaking into the Top 20 for the first time at its 6th month in market, up 34% on October to a record 16,761 units, only 2,500 off becoming the brand’s best-seller in the country and the Honda Accord up 18 ranks on last month and 73% year-on-year to #25 with 13,703 sales thanks to the new generation now in dealerships.

Record-breaking month for the Toyota Vios in China.

While the previous generation had been stuck beyond the 150th position for the best part of the past couple of years, Toyota hits gold with the new Vios: it shoots up 182 spots on October to #31 with 12,726 sales vs. just 891 last month, already and by far the nameplate’s monthly volume record! The Vios could become the 5th Toyota to regularly rank inside the Top 20 in 2014 along with the RAV4, Camry, Corolla and Corolla EX… There are many more models reaching all-time high sales this month: among them the Nissan Livina at #33 and 12,597 units, the Venucia R50/D50 at #34 and 12,352 and Roewe 350 at #36 and 12,156, one of 8 Chinese models inside the Top 40.

The Beijing E-Series sells more than 10,000 monthly units for the first time in November.

Further down, the Beijing E-Series breaks into the Chinese Top 50 for the very first time at #49, also breaking the 10,000 monthly unit-benchmark at 10,006 units, up 186% year-on-year. The ChangAn Eado stops just short of both these milestones at a best-ever #51 and 9,855 sales. Notice also the Ford Kuga being one of only two all-new models (read less than one year old) with the Honda Crider to sell more than 10,000 units at #43 and 10,426, the Chery E3 up 14 spots and 32% on last month to #59, Toyota Reiz up 11 to #63 thanks to the new model, Citroen C-Elysee up 68% to #68, Citroen C4L up 11 ranks to a best-ever #70 and 8,089 sales and the Fiat Viaggo back up 35 spots to #95. There are 5 all-new models in the Chinese ranking this month, but this will be the subject of a separate article…

Previous month (models): China October 2013: Ford Focus, Chevy Cruze, Haval H6 and Emgrand EC7 hit record volumes

Previous month (brands): China October 2013: Now with Top 65 All-brands ranking

Previous month (new models): China October 2013: Focus on the all-new models

Previous month (year-to-date): China 10 months 2013: Discover the Top 339 All-models ranking!

Full November 2013 Top 319 All-models Ranking Table below.