China retail July 2021: VW accelerates its fall to -27.9%, BYD (+115.5%), Wuling (+64.1%) soar, Voyah lands

The Voyah Free has landed into the Chinese retail charts.

BSCB is the only non-Chinese medium to cover both wholesales (ex-factory shipments) and retail sales (end-customer sales) for China so you can get the most complete picture of the largest new vehicle market in the world. Retail sales tend to give a more accurate picture of the market as they roughly correspond to purchases by end-customers and are more difficult to artificially boost by manufacturers which can sometimes be the case for wholesales data. If wholesales drop significantly this month at -11.9%, the selection of vehicles included in this update which extends to some LCVs such as microvans is stable at -0.6% to 1.569.462 units. The year-to-date tally is now up 27.6% to 11.578.940.

As predicted last month, the wholesales implosion of Volkswagen is now trickling down to retail sales with July down a steep -27.9% year-on-year. However unlike in the wholesales charts, the German manufacturer manages to hold onto the brands pole position in July. Strong performances by the Polo (+53.1%), Tacqua (+35.2%), Phideon (+31%) and T-Cross (+8%) and the new ID.4 X (2.025), ID.4 Crozz (1.771), Talagon (1.140), ID.6 X (865) and ID.6 Crozz (407) can’t compensate for freefalls by the Sagitar (-73.4%), T-Roc (-69%), Touran (-52.7%), Teramont X (-49.4%), Bora (-47.5%), Tiguan (-44.9%), Tayron X (-42.7%) and Magotan (-41.4%).

Cementing its newly acquired 2nd spot YTD, Toyota (+1.5%) manages an uptick this month thanks to solid showings by the Wildlander (+41.2%), Levin (+25.5%), RAV4 (+19%), C-HR (+13.5%), Camry (+7.9%), Vios FS (+4.9%) and new Allion (record 6.150) and Levin GT (437). Honda (-12.1%) underperforms but easily remains in third place and avoid an even harsher fall due to significant upticks by the Fit (+1350.2%), Breeze (+34.5%), Odyssey (+23.7%), Elysion (+17.6%), CR-V (+6.9%) and Envix (+4.7%). Nissan (-3.5%) holds onto the 4th position and benefits from stellar performances by the Teana (+28.8%), Tiida (+23.1%), Qashqai (+22.4%), Murano (+12.7%), Terra (+11.8%), Sylphy (+3.3%).

The next four brands are all Chinese and all deliver outstanding year-on-year gains. Geely (+6.4%) remains the #1 domestic brand with over 80.000 sales, helped by the Emgrand (+40.5%), Haoyue (+16.5%), and new Xingrui (9.313), Xingyue L (4.521) and Emgrand S (3.642). Changan (+11.8%) is pushed up by the new Benben E-Star (7.787), CS75 (+20.4%), CS55 Plus (+19.2%) and CS75 Plus (+9.1%). Wuling (+64.1%) is lifted by the ever successful Hongguang Mini EV celebrating 12 months in market and scoring its largest monthly volume of 2021 at 30.180 as well as the new Victory (4.358). Haval (+12.1%) surfs on the success of the new Big Dog (9.904), First Love (2.779) and Chitu (2.733) as well as a great score by its best-seller the H6 (+14.7%). Finally BYD (+115.5%) more than doubles its sales year-on-year thanks to the smashing success of the Han (+2941.7%), Yuan (+259.9%), Qin Pro (+141.5%), Tang (+108.8%), new Song Plus (11.371) and Qin Plus (7.865).

Below, BMW (-10%), Audi (-11.2%), Buick (-34.6%) and Mercedes (-39.1%) all fall apart and once again Chinese brands post the most impressive results: COS (+147.4%), Hongqi (+52.5%), GAC (+50.1%), Lynk & Co (+50%), Chery (+46.5%) and Dongfeng (+39.7%) all shine in the remainder of the Top 30. One notable exception is Baojun (-55.2%) in complete freefall not just for the month but year-to-date also (-26.9%) as its attempt to go upmarket with the “New Baojun” identity has failed. Just outside the Top 30, MG (+32.1%) and Jetour (+92.3%) shoot up, while six brands break they all-time monthly records, all for at least the 2nd month in a row: LI (8.823), Nio (8.052), Xpeng (7.732), Neta (6.253), Sehol (5.413) and Leap Motor (4.361). We have a newcomer in the brands charts: Dongfeng’s new high-end EV brand Voyah landing at #93 with the first sales of its new SUV, the Free (pictured above).

Over in the models ranking, the Nissan Sylphy (+3.3%) easily retains the top spot with a 18.000-unit margin over the VW Lavida (-7.4%) #2 like year-to-date. The Toyota Corolla (-3%) advances two spots on June to #3, dislodging the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV from the podium. The Haval H6 is up one rank to #5 and remains #3 year-to-date, it distances the Toyota Levin (+25.5%) up one spot to #6, the Toyota RAV4 (+19%) up seven to #7, the Toyota Camry (+7.9%) up three to #8, the Changan CS75 Plus (+9.1%) up seven to #9 and the Honda CR-V (+6.9%) up eight to #10. The Honda Breeze (+34.5%) shoots up 23 spots on last month to land at a record #11. Below the Hongguang mini EV, the most popular recent launches are the BYD Song Plus (#28), Hyundai Elantra (#30), Haval Big Dog (#34), COS X5 (#36) and Geely Xingrui (#37).

Previous month: China retail June 2021: Volkswagen down “just” -7.9%, Wuling Hongguang Mini EV signs first podium

One year ago: China retail July 2020: Changan, Buick, Wuling impress in largest sales gain in over two years (+7.9%)

Full July 2021 Top 126 All-brands and Top 650 All-models below.