China LCV July 2016: Pickups up 26%, Mini Trucks up 12% in market down 11%

Sales of Great Wall Wingle 6 are up 74% year-on-year in July. 

* See the Top 56 All-models by clicking on the title *

Thanks to a partnership with Chinese consultancy outlet Cedars, here is July sales data for Light Commercial Vehicles in China with complete Minivan, Pickup and Mini Truck model figures as well as selected Light Truck data provided by LMC Automotive. The Chinese LCV aisle as a whole is once again in great difficulty with July sales down 11% to 216.824 units, leading to a year-to-date tally down 12% to 1.912.175 units. Yet detailed study segment by segment confirms the evolution of the past few months. Micro/minivans accelerate their demise at -49% to 27.482 units, some of this lost wind recuperated by mini trucks up 12% to 35.224, this category outselling minivans for the third month in a row – and ever. A typical illustration of this momentous shift is the Wuling Mini Truck, back to #1 this month and the mini pickup variant of the Wuling Hongguang, now selling almost double the Wuling Sunshine and Rongguang minivans combined at 20.117 sales vs. 11.758.

JAC Pickups – including the T6 pictured here in Chile – are up 221% in July. 

But for the third consecutive month, the LCV heroes of China are pickup trucks. Reenergised by a change in legislation allowing them in the large cities of four provinces for the first time in 12 years (click here for more detail on this), pickup sales in China are fast turning into one of the new engine of growth along with SUVs and MPVs. After returned to positive for the first time in over two years in April and posting very impressive gains in both May (+11%) and June (+36%), pickup trucks sing their third month of double-digit gains in a row in July at +23% to 26.014 units, lifting their year-to-date total up 6% to 198.426. Their distant leader, the ageing Great Wall Wingle 5, manages to outpace the segment’s explosive growth at +28% to 5.896 at #9, its best ranking since February. Surprisingly, its closest followers all lose ground: the Dongfeng Rich (-14%), JMC Baodian (-20%) and ZX Auto Grand Tiger (-3%), but the JAC Pickup (+221%), Great Wall Wingle 6 (+74%), JMC Yuhu (+87%) and Foton Tunland (+46%) make themselves noticed.

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Previous month: China LCV June 2016: Pickup sales surge 36%

One year ago: China LCV July 2015: Wuling Mini Truck confirms leadership

Full July 2016 Top 56 All-models ranking below.