China imports December 2018: Urus lands, lifts Lamborghini up 656%

China is the one market for which the Lamborghini Urus was conceived in the first place.

Chinese imports nudge up 3.1% year-on-year in December to 112.534 units. Both BMW (+4%) and Mercedes (+8%) are back above Lexus (+1%) with Porsche (+80%) posting a fantastic five-digit sales score in 4th place. Audi (+42%) and Lincoln (+16%) follow, while the remaining Top 10 brands are all in negative, with Toyota (-38%) and Land Rover (-27%) hit the hardest. Further down, Alfa Romeo (+147%), Chrysler (+95%), Rolls Royce (+93%), Mitsubishi (+131%), Bentley (+71%), Jeep (+45%) and Nissan (+26%) stand out but the big news of the month is the 656% surge of Lamborghini brought about by the arrival of the Urus SUV, conceived with China in mind. The Urus sells a stunning 128 units for its very first appearance in the Chinese charts, accounting for a whopping 94% of the brand’s December sales when the Aventador sold 5 and the Huracan 3.

Over in the models ranking, the Lexus ES (+15%) cements its lead ahead of the BMW X5 (+5%), Porsche Cayenne (+159%) and Mercedes GLE (+73%), with the Lexus RX (+40%) and Porsche Macan (+24%) also posting great results just below. The Audi A5 (+108%), Volvo XC90 (+84%), BMW 3 Series GT (+68%), Lincoln MKX (+63%), Subaru Forester (+41%), Nissan Patrol (+38%) and Mercedes S-Class (+35%) sign the largest gains in the remainder of the Top 20, while among 2018 launches the BMW X2 breaks into the Top 20 at #18, followed at a distance by the Audi S4 (#82), Mercedes V-Class (#96) and the aforementioned Lamborghini Urus (#99).

Previous month: China imports November 2018: Lexus and Porsche shine, Tesla struggles in market down 4.8%

Full December 2018 Top 45 All-brands and Top 225 All-models below.