China wholesales July 2021: Toyota repeats at #1 above VW, sales off -11.9%

The Toyota Wildlander is up 20.5% in July.

According to data by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), it’s a third consecutive month of year-on-year decline for Chinese wholesales, with July down a steep -11.9% to 1.864.000 units. However July 2021 volumes are actually up on pre-pandemic levels in June 2019 at +2.7%. Year-to-date the Chinese wholesales market is up 19.3% to 14.756.000 units and up 4.2% over the same period in 2019. In July, Passenger Vehicles are down -7% to 1.551.000 (and up 1.1% on 2019) while Commercial Vehicles dive -30.2% to 312.000 but are up 11.3% on July 2019. Year-to-date, Passenger Vehicles are up 21.2% to 11.560.000 (and down -1% on 2019) and Commercial Vehicles up 12.9% to 3.196.000 (and up 29% on 2019). In the Passenger Vehicles detail, SUVs drop -2.9% year-on-year in July to 724.000 units but remain up 22.6% year-to-date at 5.457.000. Cars edge down -1.8% to 711.000 units and gain 20.3% YTD to 5.354.000 while MPVs soar 18.8% to 80.000 in July and 19.4% to 536.000 YTD  and minibuses are up 13.3% to 36.000 in July and up 11.6% year-to-date to 212.000.

Once again Chinese brands completely buck the negative trend with a 22.2% year-on-year surge for Passenger Vehicles to 720.000 units or 46.4% share vs. 35.3% in July 2020. Year-to-date, sales of Chinese-branded Passenger Vehicles stand at 4.920.000 or 42.6% share vs. 36.1% over the same period in 2020. New Energy Vehicles (NEV) continue to break records in July, soaring 164.4% year-on-year to 271.000 units and up 197.1% to 1.478.000 units which is more than in the entire year 2020 and equates to a 10% market share. Total NEV July sales include 256.000 Passenger NEV, up 175%, of which there are 206.000 BEV (+179%) and 50.000 PHEV (+159.7%). Year-to-date, Passenger NEV are up 212.3% to 1.398.000 including 1.149.000 BEV (+235.2%) and 249.000 PHEV (+137.5%). In July, China’s exports jump 180% to 174.000 units which is a new record, 31.5% are NEVs. Exports have crossed the 1 million milestone year-to-date, including 770.000 Passenger Vehicles.

The earthquake of last month repeats in July: for only the second time in Chinese history, Toyota (+0.9%) is the most popular carmaker this month, lodging the only year-on-year gain in the Top 5. The Japanese carmaker benefits from strong results by the Camry (+23.9%), Wildlander (+20.5%), Vios FS (+12.8%), Levin (+5.3%), RAV4 (+3.6%) and Corolla (+1%) as well as the two new extended wheelbase variants of the Corolla, the Allion (4.221) and Levin GT (1.915). Toyota sells a whopping 46.839 units more than Volkswagen again imploding -50.3% in July vs. -50.2% in June, with the microchip shortage impacting the German manufacturer greatly. The T-Cross (+151.7%), Tacqua (+105.5%), Polo (+73.2%) and new Talagon (1.821) couldn’t stop the hemorrhaging with a long list of dismal performances including the Touran (-96.9%), T-Roc (-93.7%), Tayron (-92.7%), Viloran (-89.7%), Tayron X (-86.8%), Lamando (-86.4%), Tharu (-85.1%), Bora (-83.9%) and Tiguan L (-68.9%).

Just 5.000 sales below Volkswagen is Honda (-32.8%) also in great difficulty as the Fit (+601450%), Odyssey (+58.4%), Elysion (+17.3%) and Breeze (+8.1%) can’t compensate for steep falls by the Avancier (-90.9%), Civic (-70.1%), XR-V (-57.1%), Accord (-49.5%) and Vezel (-36.9%). Nissan (-15.9%) and Geely (-10.8%) perform significantly better but still drop by the double-digits. Changan (+1%) edges up, meaning the Top 6 brands are identical to June. Below Buick (-24.2%) up 5 spots on last month to #7 but crumbling, we have three high performing domestic brands: Haval (+20.4%) takes full advantage of the success of its three newcomers the Big Dog (7.299), Chitu (record 4.321) and First Love (4.086) as well as solid holds by its best-seller the H6 (+8.5%) as well as the M6 (+0.3%). BYD surges 89.4%, the largest gain in the Top 15, thanks to the new Qin PLUS (record 16.753), Han (+607.2%), Song (+607.1%), Yuan (+136.3%) and Tang (+79.8%). Finally Chery (+60.7%) surfs on the strength of the Arrizo 5 (+4112.6%), Tiggo 3 (+244%), Little Ant (+82.1%), Tiggo 8 (+49.7%) and Tiggo 5x (+41%).

The three premium Germans are all kicked out of the Top 10: Audi (-21.5%), BMW (-31.8%) and Mercedes (-43.5%) are hit hard. In contrast Wuling (+88.8%) thanks to the Hongguang MINI EV, Tesla (+199.3%) as the Model 3 and Y continue to gear up, MG (+52.2%), Hongqi (+53.2%) and Dongfeng (+34.7%) all post surreal gains in the remainder of the Top 20. Below, impressive gainers include COS (+129.5%), Jetour (+83.7%), Lynk & Co (+18.9%) and Ford (+13.1%) bottoming out. A raft of EV makers break their all-time volume record (again) this month: LI (+251.3%) aligns a second consecutive record volume at 8.589, as does Xpeng (+253.3%) at 8.040. As for Neta (+491.6%), July marks a 5th straight monthly record at 6.011 while both Leap Motor (+398.2%) at 4.404 and Weltmeister (+97.8%) at 4.027 sign a 2nd straight record volume. Not breaking record but in outstanding shape nevertheless are  NIO (+124.5%), Ora (+136.7%), Peugeot (+120.9%) finally on the up after years of collapsing and Bestune (+140%).

In the models ranking, the Nissan Sylphy (-17.7%) easily retains its crown above the Toyota Corolla (+1%) with the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV and Haval H6 (+8.5%) rounding out the Top 4 like last month. Note that when adding its twin the Levin as well as extended wheelbase variants the Allion and Levin GT, the Corolla totals almost 60.000 sales, making it by far as the best-selling vehicle in the country. The Tesla Model 3 is up one spot to #5 but it appears reported wholesales volumes include exports, so keep an eye for our retail update for a more accurate reporting of Tesla sales in China. The VW Lavida (-37.7%) is back up five spots on June to #6 but this means there are no Volkswagens in the Top 5, a very rare occurrence. The Toyota Camry (+23.9%), Levin (+5.3%), Changan CS75 (-5.8%) and Toyota RAV4 (+3.6%) round out the Top 10. Volume record breakers include the LI One (8.589), Geely Emgrand S (6.532), Roewe Clever (6.183), Xpeng P7 (6.054), GAC Trumpchi Empow (5.354), Neta V (4.469) and Letin Mango (3.243).

Previous month: China wholesales June 2021: Toyota (-0.2%) topples VW (-50.2%) in market down -12.4%

One year ago: China wholesales July 2020: Post-Covid rebound accelerates to +16.4%, Toyota smiles, VW cries

Full July 2021 Top 100 All-brands and Top XXX All-models below.