China February 2014: Update with Light Commercial Vehicle sales

Wuling is one of 14 Chinese manufacturers in the Top 30. Much better with LCVs!

* See the Top 30 best-selling brands by clicking on the title! *

Similarly to India, just in time before March figures trickle down and thanks to LMC Automotive I can now share with you a detailed brands ranking including imports and Light Commercial Vehicles! Very exciting indeed. A lot of ink has been used to describe how Chinese carmakers are far from dominant at home, commanding at best a 25% share of the Passenger Car market and leaving the lion’s share to foreign manufacturers. Two things to oppose this: 25% of the biggest car market in the world is not to be spat at, and Chinese carmakers actually have a near monopoly of the Light Commercial Vehicle which is rarely talked about. Until today.

ChangAn Taurus. ChangAn is the #2 Chinese manufacturer and #3 overall in February.

In February, 1,204,422 new Passenger Cars found a buyer in China (+20%) and 391.856 Light Commercial Vehicles (+12%), adding up to 1,596,278 units. The year-to-date total stands at 2,931,003 PC, 852,310 LCV and 3,783,313 total. I estimate that these figures include imports simply because each brand features a slightly higher total than my previous February update, and the difference increases for Volkswagen and German premium brands which are renown for being successful imports as well. Volkswagen remains by far the most successful carmaker in China with 238,098 sales in February, up a magnificent 38% year-on-year. But surprise: the next two carmakers are Chinese. Wuling ranks 2nd with 137,684 units (+31%) and ChangAn is third at 84,556 sales (+12%).

Jinbei Haise. Jinbei sales are up 67% year-on-year in February.

In fact when you take into account LCVs, there are no less than 14 Chinese manufacturers inside the February Top 30. Not bad for a supposedly weak presence. Dongfeng is #9 with 49,966 sales (-7%), Foton #13 at 36,071 units (+4%), JAC #14 with 34,355 sales (-2%), Jinbei up 67% to #17, Great Wall up 5% to #18, BYD down 20% to #19, FAW down 4% to #20, Chery down 23% to #21, Haval up 55% to #22, Lifan up 72% to #28, Brilliance up 10% to #29 and JMC up 54% to #30.

Lifan Passenger Cars are up 134% in February, LCVs ‘only’ 33%.

Finally, one interesting trend to pick up is most Chinese manufacturers that see their sales increase year-on-year this month are doing so because of their Passenger Car sales, not their LCV sales. For example, ChangAn Passenger Cars are up 22% vs. 6% for LCV, DongFeng Passenger Car sales are up 45% vs. -36% for LCV and Lifan cars are up 134% vs. 33% for LCVs… As a bonus I give you the sales figures for two LCVs in China in February: the Wuling Rongguang/Xingwang sold 30,396 units (+13%) and 70,615 year-to-date (+10%) and the ChangAn Minibus is at 25,687 sales (-3%) and 58,109 year-to-date (-18%).

Previous brands update: China February 2014: Now with All-brands ranking!

Previous post: China February 2014: VW Santana takes off at +189%

One year ago: China February 2013: Lavida leads, 1 of 6 Volkswagens in Top 8

Full February 2014 Top 30 brands Ranking Table below.