China imports April 2018: Lexus up 34% to #2 below Mercedes

The Lexus NX soars 56% year-on-year to #3. Picture sina.com.cn

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It’s time for complete Chinese imports data, BSCB being the first media outside of China to report on these figures regularly. Just this week China has lowered the tariffs imposed on car imports by ten percentage points from 25 to 15%, applicable on July 1. This will undoubtedly boost imports as carmakers are able to lower their price, such as Tesla which has already applied the lower tariff to its current pricing in China. For now, April imports into China are up 4.9% to 87.604 units, leading to a YTD volume up 10.4% to 369.586.

The Land Cruiser (+66%) pushes Toyota imports up 21% this month.

Mercedes (+9%) remains the most popular import in the country, both this month and YTD but in April Lexus soars 34% to snap the 2nd spot off BMW (-9%). Lexus is the best-selling pure importer in China. So far this year, BMW still has a 4.300 unit-strong advantage over Lexus. Toyota (+21%) remains in 4th place but Porsche (+17%) overtakes Land Rover (+19%) to #5 while more symbolically, Lincoln (+7%) passes Audi (+19%) to #7, a ranking it held over the FY2017. Volkswagen (-27%) is with BMW and Subaru (-18%) the only manufacturer in negative in the Top 12. Further down, Alfa Romeo (+149%), Mitsubishi (+104%), Ssangyong (+103%), Buick (+41%), Aston Martin (+31%), Rolls-Royce (+27%), Bentley (+26%), Infiniti (+22%), Ferrari (+15%) and Nissan (+14%) shine.

The Porsche Cayenne overtakes the Macan to become the brand’s best-seller in China.

Model wise, the Lexus ES (+14%) posts a 10th win in the past 12 months, with the BMW X5 (+14%) in tow like in FY2017 and so far in 2018 but over 1.000 units below. The Lexus NX shoots up 56% to land on the podium vs. #6 YTD, dislodging the Mercedes CLA (+17%) down to #4. The Toyota Land Cruiser soars 66% year-on-year and one spot on March to #6, while the Porsche Cayenne (+20%) becomes the brand’s best-seller in China, overtaking the Macan (-16%). The Mercedes S-Class surges 53% to round up the Top 10. Below, the Porsche Panamera (+854%), Lincoln Continental (+143%) and Mercedes C-Class Estate (+125%) impress. The Range Rover Velar is the best-selling recent import launch (<12 months) at #34, ahead of the BMW 6 Series GT (#74), Ford F-150 (#77), Mercedes AMG GLC (#84) and Mazda CX-3 (#86).

Previous month: China imports March 2018: Lexus ES reclaims control

Previous year: China Full Year 2017: Exclusive imports data by model and brand

Full March 2018 Top 50 All imported brands and Top 240 models ranking below.