China imports Full Year 2020: Lexus places ES, RX and NX in Top 4 again in market down -12.3%

Lexus remains by far the best-selling importer in China.

Discover 30 years worth of Chinese Historical Data here.

For the fourth consecutive year we can share worth you complete China imports data for the Full Year, this is exclusive to BSCB as no media outside of China is reporting on these figures. Imports drop -12.3% year-on-year in 2020 to 1.004.529 units vs. 1.145.961 in 2019. That’s a much larger drop than locally produced wholesales (-1.9%).

Lexus (+16.8%) swims upstream with a vigorous year-on-year gain to cement its domination with over 235.000 sales for the year, that’s 80.000 more than the #2 Mercedes (+11.5%) also in outstanding shape. Mercedes overtakes BMW (-11.7%) to #2 this year. Porsche (-2.1%) and Audi (-4.5%) resist much better than the market in the remainder of the Top 10 as opposed to Lincoln (-54.9%) now a local producer – which explains the large drop in imports – and Volkswagen (-40.2%). Further down the charts, Hyundai (+1484.2%) thanks to the late arrival of the Palisade, Bentley (+45.6%) and Rolls Royce (+1.5%) are among rare gainers. With the Model 3 now produced locally, Tesla imports implode (-74.3%).

Over in the models ranking, the Top 4 is unchanged on last year, with Lexus managing to place three models in there. The Lexus ES (+22.8%) easily and impressively crosses the 100.000 annual sales mark at just under 115.000 for the year. It distances the Lexus RX (+22.1%), BMW X5 (+25.8%) and Lexus NX (+4.6%) also all in outstanding shape. Note Lexus monopolised the models podium with these same three models in March and December. The Mercedes GLE (+60.3%) slices its 2019 ranking in two, going from #10 to #5, while the Porsche Cayenne (+9%) remains at #6, the BMW 7 Series (+18.1%) is up 7 spots to #8 and the Toyota Alphard (+48.1%) up 13 to #9. With the Porsche Macan (-19.1%) at #7, there are six luxury SUVs in the Top 7 like last year. Launched in late 2019, the Audi Q8 (+1116.6%) surges 89 spots to #30, the Land Rover Defender is up 184 ranks to #61 and the Lexus LM lands at #62.

Previous year: China imports 2019: Lexus takes control with ES and RX, Tesla Model 3 lands in Top 10

Two years ago: China imports 2018: Lexus (+26.3%) has ES at #1, NX at #3 and RX at #5 in market up 3.2%

Full Year 2020 Top 52 All-brands and Top 323 All-models vs. Full Year 2019 figures below.

Full September, October, November and December 2020 Top 43 All-brands and Top 210 All-models below.