China retail October 2021: Wuling (+45.2%), BYD (+120.5%) defy market off -12.3%

The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is the best-selling retail vehicle in October.

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. The selection of vehicles included in this update which extends to some LCVs such as microvans is down -12.3% year-on-year to 1,637,927 units, with a year-to-date volume up 12.5% to 16,377,670.

Volkswagen (-33.5%) continues to underperform, with solid scores by the Teramont (+58.9%), Tharu (+7.3%), Passat (+6.1%) and ID.4 Crozz (record 3,486) unable to compensate freefalls by the Golf (-72.7%), Magotan (-58.8%), Polo (-57.2%), Tayron (-56.3%), Bora (-53.3%), Sagitar (-47.7%), Tacqua (-46%), Lamando (-45.5%) and Santana (-41.9%). In 2nd place, Honda (-21.5%) also loses more ground than the market as the Breeze (+54.8%), Fit (+30.2%) and Odyssey (+15.1%) can’t balance off weak performances by the Inspire (-70.7%), Crider (-60.6%), Avancier (-59.7%), CR-V (-50.3%), Civic (-37.9%) and Accord (-21.1%). Toyota remains in third place and posts the best hold on the podium at -10% thanks to strong scores by the RAV4 (+38.3%), Camry (+31.1%), Highlander (+25%), Wildlander (+16.7%), Vios FS (+4.8%) and Crown Kluger (record 6,644). 

Wuling (+45.2%) leaps up two spots on September to land in 4th place overall with just under 95,000 sales, benefiting from the continued success of the Hongguang Mini EV (+125.7% to a record 47,769), the Victory (+102%)  and new Xingchen (8,417). Geely (-2.7%) drops one rank to #5 but resists much better than the market thanks to outstanding results by the Emgrand (+33.7%) and Binyue (+20.7%). BYD (+120.5%) is one again the best performer in the Top 10, ending the month just under 87,000 retail sales and surfing on the success of the Yuan (+443.8%) ,Song PLUS (+353%), Qin (+126.8%), e2 (+81.9%), Han (+59.7%), F3 (+31.7%), Qin PLUS (record 19,708) and Dolphin (record 4,035). Nissan (-31.2%), Changan (-23.4%), Buick (-23.7%) and Haval (-22.2%) round out the Top 10 in paltry mode. Below, COS (+92.6%), Ora (+53.1%), MG (+48.8%), Dongfeng (+48.7%), Chery (+32.1%), Jetour (+26.8%), Jetta (+23.7%), Hongqi (+14%), Tesla (+6%) and Ford (+3.2%) stand out with year-on-year upticks. Volume record-breakers this month include Xpeng (+245.4%) at 10,287, Sehol (+2281.8%) at 9,170 and TANK at 8,839.

Looking at the models ranking, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+125.7%) scores its first ever monthly win, approaching the 48,000 monthly retail sales. It distances the year-to-date leader, the Nissan Sylphy (-34.5%) and the VW Lavida (-31.2%). The Haval H6 (-22.4%) follows ahead of the Buick Excelle Yinlang (-24.1%). The Toyota Camry (+31.1%) is up 23 spots on September to #6, while the Toyota Corolla (-35.3%) is up 12 to #7 and the BYD Qin PLUS remains at a record 8th place. The Toyota RAV4 (+38.3%) and VW Sagitar (-47.7%) round out the Top 10. Below the Mini EV, the most popular recent launches are the Tesla Model Y (#24), TANK 300 (#52) and Wuling Xingchen (#57) new for the month.

Previous month: China retail September 2021: Tesla Model Y up to #4, sales down -14.1%

Previous year: China retail Full Year 2020: Changan, Toyota headline market down -7.5%

Full October 2021 Top 114 All-brands and Top 650 All-models ranking below.