China retail July 2020: Changan (+91.9%), Buick (+44%), Wuling (+41.6%) impress in largest sales gain in over two years (+7.9%)

Wuling retail sales are up 41.6% even before the introduction of the Hongguang MINI EV. Pictured: Hongguang Plus.

Data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows July retail sales of Passenger Vehicles in China up a sturdy 7.9% year-on-year to 1.625.000 units, the largest increase in over two years: since May 2018. This figure includes cars, SUVs, MPVs and minibuses. In the segment detail, cars gain 3.6% to 773.000 units, SUVs soar 13.1% to 728.000, MPVs finally earn an uptick at +4% to 96.000 and minibuses are up 17.9% to 27.000. Year-to-date, the Chinese retail market is off -18.5% to 9.479.000 units including 4.479.000 cars (-21.5%), 4.301.000 SUVs (-12.6%), 529.000 MPVs (-33.6%) and 170.000 minibuses (-16.1%). The selection of vehicles included in this update is up a whopping 19.8% to 1.576.799 units, leading to a YTD tally down -24% to 9.075.845. BSCB is the only non-Chinese medium to cover both wholesales (ex-factory shipments) and retail sales data for China so you can get the most complete picture of the largest new car market in the world. Retail sales tend to give a more authentic picture of the market as they roughly correspond to registrations by end-customers and are more difficult to artificially boost by manufacturers which can sometimes be the case for wholesales data.

Changan scores the largest gain in the Top 15 at +91.9%.

Fully illustrating the market’s dynamism, the Top 12 best-selling brands are all in positive this month, including only two in the single-digits. Brand leader Volkswagen (+6.7%) is one of them, it benefits from strong scores by the Teramont X (+130.1%), Tharu (+46.5%), CC (+31.2%), Sagitar (+20.6%), Polo (+17.6%), Touran (+19.2%), Bora (+15.3%) and Tiguan (+13.9%) but is hampered by drastic falls by the Passat (-23.3%), Lamando (-22.5%), T-Roc (-20.9%) and Phideon (-17.8%). In second place, Toyota (+14%) surfs on the success of the Avalon (+84.1%), RAV4 (+41.4%), Yaris L (+20.2%), Levin (+18%) and new Wildlander (record 6.393), distancing Honda (+22.2%) helped by the XR-V (+254.2%), Vezel (+197.7%), Elysion (+218.4%), UR-V (+29.5%) and new Breeze (12.374). Nissan (+3.2%) edges a timid gain in 4th place above Geely (+12.7%) supported by the Boyue (+70.9%), Binrui (+51.1%), Vision X6 (+45.8%), Jiaji (+44.2%) and new Haoyue (record 2.844).

It’s a new monthly retail volume record for Hongqi.

Changan (+91.9%) scores the biggest gain in the Top 10 (and Top 15) thanks to a tremendous welcome for the new CS75 Plus (16.812), UNI-T (record 8.369), CS35 Plus (record 7.639) as well as the Yuexiang (+258.1%), Eado (+143.5%) and Raeton CC (+120.1%). Buick (+44%), BMW (+38.2%), Audi (+22.8%) and Mercedes (+18.7%) complete a Top 10 in euphoric shape. Below, BYD (+117.8%), Cadillac (+51.2%), Haval (+43.4%), Wuling (+41.6%), Roewe (+36.4%) and Chery (+30.4%) also impress while Hongqi (+203.1%) is up to #25 overall and breaks its all-time retail volume record at 15.479. Note Wuling is achieving a 41.6% year-on-year gain even before the launch of the new Hongguang MINI EV which has just reported 15.000 sales in the past 20 days and will appear in the August data. Notice also COS (+662.2%), Cowin (+340.9%), NIO (+329.8%), Xpeng (+280.4%), Ora (+156.4%), Weltmeister (+119.4%), JAC (+91.6%), Lynk & Co (+67.2%), Bestune (+54%) and Jetour (+41%) making waves in the remainder of the Top 55. Jetta (12.633) is the most popular recent brand launch above Tesla (11.801), Lincoln (4.030), LI (2.485) and Ciimo (1.306).

As it is the case in the wholesales charts, the Nissan Sylphy towers above the retail models charts.

Over in the models ranking, the Nissan Sylphy (+46.7%) scores a 10th consecutive monthly win, widening the gap with its direct follower the VW Lavida (+5.8%) to almost 13.000 units. The Toyota Corolla (+0.2%) is down one spot on June to #3 while the Buick Excelle Yinlang (+48.6%) remains at a strong 4th place above the VW Bora (+15.3%), Haval H6 (+91.9%) and VW Sagitar (+20.6%). The Changan CS75 Plus edges up one rank on last month to #15, remaining the best-selling recent launch in China, the first of a whopping 12 new models making their way into the July Top 100 above the Honda Breeze (#35), Tesla Model 3 (#37), BYD Song Pro (#52), Hongqi HS5 (#54), Changan UNI-T (#58), Changan CS55 Plus (#61), Toyota Wildlander (#68), Jetta VS5 (#77), Mercedes GLB (#78), COS X7 (#79) and Baojun RS-3 (#94).

Previous post: China retail First Half 2020: Audi (+3.2%), Mercedes (+0.2%), Toyota (-7.6%) resist in market down -22.5%

Previous month: China retail June 2020: Recovery interrupted (-6.2%) by high year-ago comparison base

One year ago: China July 2019: Hongqi, Mercedes, Toyota impress in market logically down -20.4% post Stage 6 implementation

Full July 2020 Top 125 All China-made brands, Top 665 All-models and Top 195 All New Energy models below.