China imports October 2021: BMW X5 best-seller in market freefalling -32.5%

The BMW X5 is the best-selling imported vehicle in China in October.

Sales of new imported vehicles sink -32.5% year-on-year in China to 57,493 units in October, leading to a year-to-date tally up just 0.8% to 793,589. BMW (-7.7%) is up two spots on last month to take control of the brands ranking with just under 13,000 sales, toppling last month’s leader Mercedes (-11.3%). Still #1 year-to-date, Lexus (-59%) implodes this month in third place. Audi (+13.9%) defies the negative context to lift to 4th place overall, distancing Porsche (-33.7%) and Land Rover (-27.1%). Volvo (+4.8%) is the only additional gainer in the Top 10 just as Toyota (-71.2%) and Subaru (-37.2%) struggle. Further down, Jeep (+5.2%), Maserati (+10.8%), Bentley (+5.5%) and Ford (+17.5%) stand out.

Model-wise, the BMW X5 (+4.5%) swims upstream to lodge its first monthly win since July 2018, toppling perennial leader the Lexus ES (-66.2%) losing two thirds of its year-ago volume. The Mercedes GLE (+23.6%) is also up in third place ahead of the Lexus RX (-30.7%) and Volvo XC90 (-3.5%). The Porsche Cayenne (-59.7%) skids down and makes sure there are five SUVs in the October Top 6. The BMW 7 Series (-18.6%) is up two spots on September to #7 ahead of the VW Touareg (-12.8%), Porsche Macan (-13.6%) and a euphoric Mercedes GLS (+209.8%) making it 8 SUVs in the Top 10.

Previous month: China imports September 2021: Mercedes overtakes Lexus, sales off -20.5%

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

Full October 2021 Top 30 All-brands and Top 150 All-models below.