China LCV March 2016: Mini Trucks shoot up 31% led by Wuling

The Wuling Minitruck (+39%) illustrates a strong sales transfer from microvans to micro pickups.

* See the Top 55 best-selling models by clicking on the title *

As part of a partnership with Chinese consultancy Cedars, we can share with you detailed data for the March light commercial vehicle market in China with complete Minivan, Pickup and Mini Truck data by model as well as selected light truck/bus data provided by LMC Automotive. Minivans somehow slow down their freefall in March at ‘just’ -25% to 70.876 units, pulling the year-to-date total down 34% to 173.907. In contrast, illustrating the micro-van to micro-pickup trend currently at play in China, the Mini Truck segment (=micro pickups) performs brilliantly this month at +31% to 48.103 units and +18% year-to-date at 120.033. One-tonne pickups slow their fall down further at just -2% in February (33.775) vs. -9% so far in 2016 (81.467), potentially the result of a much anticipated change in legislation allowing pickup trucks in the large cities of four provinces for the first time in 12 years (see our February China LCV report for more detail).

Wuling Sunshine S (up) and Sunshine lineup (down)

The Foton Light Truck (grouping all pickups sold under the Forland brand) takes the year-to-date lead thanks to 31.647 sales in March and despite a 10% year-on-year drop, but it’s below that the movements are more interesting the Wuling Mini Truck is up a flamboyant 39% year-on-year to 31.700 units, contrasting with the Hongguang V already sinking 43% and the Rongguang down 21% (the latter two being microvans). The only microvan to somewhat resist the hecatomb is the Sunshine (-9%), due to the launch in H2 2015 of a facelifted variant baptised “S” as is now the norm at Wuling. Further down, the JMC Light Truck (+11%), Chana Star Mini Truck (+26%) and Dongfeng K-Series Mini Truck (+56%) also post strong results, as does the Great Wall Wingle 6 (+74%).

Previous post: China LCV January-February 2016: Pickups about to bounce back?

One year ago: China LCV March 2015: Wuling Hongguang V cracks 30.000 sales

Full March 2016 Top 55 models Ranking Table below.