China imports March 2020: Porsche (+50.8%) defies market down -35.3%

Porsche Panamera sales are up 443.7% year-on-year.

After collapsing -78.4% in February, retail sales of imported cars in China drop -35.3% in March to 61.260 units, a better hold than the wholesales market (-43.3%). Q1 2020 volumes are down -39.5% to 153.817. Lexus (-29.6%) reclaims the brands top spot for the first time this year, edging past BMW (-11.8%) for just 404 units. Leader in February, Mercedes (-22.2%) drops to #3 this month. Year-to-date, BMW (-27.6%) is on top above Lexus (-29.6%) and Mercedes (-30.9%). Porsche (+50.8%) goes completely against the grain with a splendid year-on-year gain in 4th place, leading to a contained -10.1% drop year-to-date. Only Bentley (+52.1%) also manages an uptick in the Top 20, with Subaru (-4.4%), Mini (-19.9%), Mitsubishi (-20.9%) and Land Rover (-27.2%) also resisting better than the market but Alfa Romeo (-83.5%), Tesla (-81.7%), Ford (-78.7%), Infiniti (-78.1%) and Audi (-63.2%) getting hammered.

Model-wise, the Lexus ES (-31.9%) easily remains the most popular imported vehicle in China, selling almost double the #2, the BMW X5 (+42.5%) which sports a spectacular year-on-year lift. The Lexus RX (-35.8%) remains in third place ahead of the Mercedes GLE (+45.7%) and Porsche Cayenne (+108.7%) both also showing market-defying surges. The BMW 7 Series (+4.5%) is the only additional Top 10 model in positive, but all others lose less ground than the market, with the BMW 3 Series GT (-12%), Porsche Macan (-13.8%), Lexus NX (-19.5%) and Mini (-23.2%) all posting reasonable losses. Below, the Porsche Panamera (+443.7%), Porsche 718 (+70.9%), BMW X4 (+39.9%) and VW Touareg (+20.6%) also shine. The Lexus UX (#22) is the best-selling recent launch above the BMW X7 (#37), Lincoln Nautilus (#38) and Audi Q8 (#51).

Previous month: China imports February 2020: Mercedes #1, Porsche (-55.4%) resists in market down -78.4%

One year ago: China imports March 2019: Tesla Model 3 lands at #3, sales drop slows to -2.7%

Full March 2020 Top 40 All-brands and Top 185 All-models below.