China wholesales September 2020: 5th straight double-digit market gain (+12.8%), Honda, Toyota, Audi, Mercedes, NIO, LI and Xpeng all break records

The new P7 sedan lifts Xpeng wholesales to record heights.

It’s a spectacular 5th consecutive month of double-digit gains for the Chinese wholesales market with September volumes up another 12.8% year-on-year to 2.565.000 units, making it by far the largest month of 2020 so far and the 2nd largest September volume after 2017, as customers rushed into dealerships prior to the traditional October Labour Day holiday. Passenger Cars are up 8% to 2.088.000 units including 980.000 SUVs (+16%), 958.000 cars (+3%), 112.000 MPVs (-12.3%) and 38.000 minivans (+25.5%). As they continue to be propped up by new infrastructure projects set up to get the national economy back on track, Commercial Vehicles surge another 40.3% to 477.000 units including 434.000 trucks (+43.8%) and 43.000 buses (+12.8%). Year-to-date, Chinese wholesales are now down “just” -6.9% to 17.116.000 units and as a result of such a strong September we have revised our 2020 China Forecast up from 24.6 million (-4.5%) last month to 25.1 million (-3%).

The new generation Fit helps Honda to a new volume record in China.

So far in 2020, Passenger Cars are off -12.4% to 13.376.000 units including 6.229.000 SUVs (-5.5%) now back above 6.222.000 Cars at (-16%), 661.000 MPVs (-32.7%) and 263.000 minivans (-7.9%). Commercial Vehicles step up 19.8% to 3.741.000 units including 3.445.000 trucks (+23.2%) and 295.000 buses (-9.5%). Electrified vehicle sales celebrate a third straight month in positive thanks to extended government subsidies and, as we’ll see further down, record volumes by local startups NIO, LI and Xpeng. Total New Energy wholesales soar 67.7% to 138.000 units in September, including 112.000 EVs (+71.5%) and 25.000 PHEVs (+55.7%). Year-to-date, NEV wholesales are off -17.7% to 734.000 including 579.000 EVs (-18.6%) and 154.000 PHEV (-12.4%).

The RAV4 is up 5-fold year-on-year, helping push Toyota to a new record.

Once again market leader Volkswagen (-1.1%) hasn’t caught the growth train: it is the only brand in negative inside the Top 10 as it endures a 7th year-on-year decline this year. Strong results by the CC (+159.3%), Tharu (+87.8%), Touran (+57.1%), Polo (+22.7%), Passat (+14.3%), Teramont (+14.2%), Lamando (+5.7%), Bora (+4.8%) and a record volume by the Viloran (3.815) can’t compensate steep falls by the Golf (-13.1%), Sagitar (-13.5%), Santana (-14.6%), Lavida (-20.3%), T-Roc (-32.3%) and Phideon (-43.3%). The rest of the brands podium is entirely record-breaking. Honda (+23.8%) spectacularly smashes its previous best monthly volume hit last June by almost 24.000 units from 157.430 to 181.403 thanks to stellar performances by almost its entire lineup: the new gen Fit (+150.2%), Elysion (+99.1%), UR-V (+91.1%), CR-V (+43.7%), Inspire (+20.8%), XR-V (+15.6%), Vezel (+12.8%), Civic (+11.1%) and Accord (+10.4%).

Audi is at an all-time high this month in China, partly thanks to the Q3.

Toyota (+41.1%) lurches even further up, also cracking a new record at 164.941 vs. 158.069 in January 2019, helped by the RAV4 (+399.9%), Avalon (+161.2%), Vios (+60.9%), Yaris L (+35.2%), Corolla (+31.1%), Levin (+19.4%), Camry (+6.1%) and C-HR (+5.7%). Below, Changan (+35.9%), Buick (+28.2%), Nissan (+10%), Geely (+7%) and Haval (+1.1%) complete a Top 8 entirely in positive. At the tail end of the Top 10, both Audi (+16.1%) at 72.298 (previous best 69.194 in January 2018) and Mercedes (+22.8%) at 63.008 (previous best 59.544 last July) both break their all-time volume records, the former thanks to the Q3 (+59.8%), Q5L (+40.8%) and A6L (+24.9%) and the latter with help from the A-Class L (+25.2%), GLC (+21%), C-Class L (+13.7%) and new GLB (5.400). Propelled by the new Hongguang MINI EV (see further down), Wuling (+58.2%) scores the largest gain in the Top 24, with COS (+359.9%), Ora (+252.6%), Cowin (+74.5%), Cadillac (+41.7%), Yema (+37.1%), Jetta (+35.7%), MG (+31.4%), Volvo (+20.6%) also Land Rover (+18.3%) strong in the remainder of the Top 50. Meanwhile Hongqi (21.518), Lynk & Co (18.728), Lincoln (6.342) as well as Chinese EV startups NIO (4.708), LI (3.504), Xpeng (3.426) and Weltmeister (2.107) all smash their all-time volume records this month in a momentous move adding up to 13.745 putting Tesla (11.329) under certain pressure.

Another volume record for Hongqi.

Over in the models ranking, the Nissan Sylphy (+37%) breaks its volume record at 58.960 vs 56.339 in December 2018, becoming the 5th most popular nameplate in Chinese history below the Wuling Hongguang (82.543), Haval H6 (80.495), Wuling Sunshine (73.302) and VW Lavida (69.010). The Haval H6 (+27.6%) is lifted to by the new generation to its highest ranking since February at #2, distancing the Toyota Corolla (+31.1%), VW Lavida (-20.3%), Bora (+4.8%), Sagitar (-13.5%) and Buick Excelle Yinlang (+43.7%) which makes it 6 sedans in the September Top 7. The Honda CR-V (+43.7%), Geely Emgrand (+27.7%), Changan CS75 (+27.4%) and Toyota Levin (+19.4%) also shine in the remainder of the Top 20.

The Wuling Hongguang MINI EV crosses the 20.000 monthly sales mark.

Among recent launches, the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV confirms it is in the process of revolutionising the Chinese EV market, crossing the 20.000 wholesales monthly milestone in September, already clocking up over 35.000 units in two month and breaking into the overall Top 20. It distances the Honda Breeze (#39), Tesla Model 3 (#55), Changan UNI-T (#57 with 10.601 sales), Toyota Wildlander (#61), Baojun RS-3 (#66), Geely Haoyue (#94 and record 6.648 units). Other volume record-breakers for the month include the Jetour X90 (8.130), Hongqi H5 (7.399), Volvo XC60 (7.198), Cadillac CT5 (6.012), BYD Han (5.612), Lincoln Corsair (4.624), Lynk & Co 05 (4.521), LI One (3.504), Ford Explorer (3.394), NIO ES6 (3.226), Cowin XuanJie (2.950), Xpeng P7 (2.573), Hongqi H9 (2.501) and GAC Aion V (2.183) which has just crossed the 10.000-unit production mark.

Previous month: China wholesales August 2020: Hongqi, Wuling, Lynk & Co, Changan headline sustained market resurgence

One year ago: China wholesales September 2019: New Jetta brand lands with a bang, EV bubble bursts (-33%) in 15th straight market drop

Full September 2020 Top 103 All-brands and Top 460 All-models below.