China imports January 2019: BMW leads, Porsche and Audi shine in market down 10%

The new BMW X2 is already knocking at the Top 10 imports’ door in China.

108.910 imported new cars were registered in China in January, a steep 10% year-on-year loss as higher tariffs clamp sales. Like in December, BMW (-5.2%) is the most popular brand, outselling Mercedes (-26.2%) which came #1 over the Full Year 2018 just as Lexus (-7.2%) completes a podium entirely in negative. In contrast, Porsche (+36.7%) and Audi (+24%) both post spectacular gains and evolve one step higher than their FY2018 ranking at #4 and #5, overtaking Toyota (-40.3%) in great difficulty. Nissan (+8.5%) and Volkswagen (+0.8%) are the other two gainers in the remainder of the Top 10 while Lincoln (-0.5%) resists very well at #7 and Land Rover (-41.4%) stumbles. Further down, notice Tesla (+355.8%), Mitsubishi (+122.2%), Alfa Romeo (+103.4%), Renault (+84.4%), Mini (+79.9%), Chrysler (+67.1%), Acura (+59.3%), Jeep (+53.7%), Rolls Royce (+35.3%) and Volvo (+15.4%) all in extremely good shape while among carmakers selling less than 100 units, Lotus (+3100%), Lamborghini (+1325%) thanks to the Urus and McLaren (+311.1%) make themselves noticed.

Model-wise, the Top 2 best-sellers are unchanged on December and FY2018 despite both enduring very painful drops: the Lexus ES (-19.3%) and BMW X5 (-36.1%) are joined on the podium by the Mercedes GLE (-8.6%) but it’s the Porsche Cayenne (+108.7%), Lexus RX (+30.9%), Nissan Patrol (+18.5%) and Porsche Macan (+10.9%) that sport the best results in the Top 10. The BMW X2 is up a further 6 spots on December to #12, only 58 units off a very first Top 10 finish and by far the most popular recent launch (<12 months) above the Mercedes V-Class (#83), Audi S4 (#89), Volvo XC40 (#104), Chrysler Pacifica (#120), Lamborghini Urus (#123) and Dodge Challenger (#125). Near the top, the BMW 6 Series GT (+292.1%), Audi A8 (+272.3%), Porsche 718 (+173.8%), VW Beetle (+122.6%), Mitsubishi Pajero (+122.5%) and Mini (+93.6%) also shine.

Previous post: China imports Full Year 2018: Lexus (+26.3%) has ES at #1, NX at #3 and RX at #5 in market up 3.2%

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

One year ago: China imports January 2018: Exclusive data by brand and model available

Full January 2019 Top 50 All-brands and Top 218 All-models below.