China wholesales October 2020: Hongqi, Lynk & Co, Wuling Hongguang MINI EV break records in market up 12.5%

Lynk & Co aligns a 4th consecutive all-time monthly volume record.

With a bit of delay we can share with you October wholesales data for China. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the Chinese wholesales market sports a 7th straight month of year-on-year gains and 6th consecutive double-digit uptick at +12.5% to 2.57 million units. Passenger Cars are up 9.3% to 2.11 million and Commercial Vehicles continue to surf on a raft of infrastructure projects initiated by the government to reboot the economy, at +30% to 464.000 units. New Energy sales surge 105% to 160.000 including 133.000 EVs and 27.000 PHEVs. Year-to-date, wholesales are now down just -4.7% to 19.69 million units including  15.49 million Passenger Cars (-9.8%) and 4.205 million Commercial Vehicles (+20.9%).

For Hongqi it’s a 7th straight volume record with a new high by the H9.

Brand leader Volkswagen (-1.4%) continues to miss out on the euphoric market, enduring the only year-on-year drop in the Top 12 as strong gains by the CC (+305.4%), Magotan (+43.2%), Tharu (+29.6%) and Tiguan (+22.1%) can’t compensate for losses by the Passat (-35.6%), Santana (-32.4%), T-Cross (-29%), T-Roc (-28.7%), Lamando (-27.9%), Tayron (-17.2%) and Golf (-16.9%). Honda (+27.2%) remains at #2 for the month and is now also back to #2 year-to-date with November sales pushed by the Fit (+176.9%), UR-V (+125%), CR-V (+43.4%), Accord (+32.3%), Elysion (+32.3%), Odyssey (+18.5%) and XR-V (+15.6%). In third place, Toyota (+12.7%) also beats the market thanks to the RAV4 (+595.8%), Vios FS (+72.8%), Yaris L (+68.2%), Vios (+20.9%), IZOA (+19.5%) and Avalon (+16.4%). Rounding out the Top 5, Nissan (+9.6%) and Geely (+1.5%) are more contained but still in positive.

The Changan CS75 is above 30.000 monthly units for the first time.

Changan (+37.2%) crosses the 100.000 monthly sales mark for the first time since March 2018 thanks to all-time volume records by its star nameplate the CS75 (30.963) as well as the UNI-T (11.227) and splendid upticks by the Eado (+249.4%), CS55 (+86.5%) and Raeton CC (+62.1%). Buick (+27%) is also strong in 7th place while Haval (+13.3%) hits its highest volume since December 2018, with the H6 (+29.8%) pushed over 50.000 sales for the first time since December 2018 also and the new Big Dog/BO6 already above 7.000 wholesales units. Wuling (+59.2%) benefits from the record start of the Hongguang MINI EV (new high of 23.762) which has now accumulated 58.912 units in 3 months, eclipsing the previous best of 58.528 over the same period by the Baojun 730.

After 3 months in market, the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV is the most successful model launch in Chinese history, eclipsing the Baojun 730.

Further down, Hongqi (+87%) pulls a 7th consecutive all-time record volume at 21.997 with the H9 (2.704) hitting a new high mark, Lynk & Co (+55.8%) scores a 4th straight volume record at 21.868 thanks to outstanding starts by the 05 (record 4.621) and 06 (record 5.076), Jetour (+14.5%) manages its 2nd highest volume ever at 16.108 only surpassed in December 2019 (20.357) thanks to a new record volume by the X90 (8.223), just as Ora (8.011), NIO (5.055), LI (3.692) and Weltmeister (3.003) also secure all-time highs.

Weltmeister is above 3.000 monthly wholesales for the first time.

Model-wise, the Nissan Sylphy (+15%) dominates once again above the Haval H6 (+29.8%) and VW Lavida (+0.2%), Bora (+2.4%) and Sagitar (+1%). Additional all-time record-breakers include the BYD Han (7.545), Ora Black Cat (6.269), GAC Trumpchi GM8 (4.646), SOL X8 (4.228), Roewe iMAX8 (4.109), Roewe Clever (3.054), Cowin XuanJie (3.010), Venucia Star (3.009), Weltmeister EX5 (3.003), Baojun E200 (2.798), Cadillac XT4 (2.764), Qoros 7 (2.699) and GAC Aion V (2.006).

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

One year ago: China wholesales October 2019: Toyota, Mercedes, Baojun shine, EVs implode in 16th consecutive market slump (-4%)

Full October 2020 Top 104 All-brands and Top 457 All-models below.