China imports January 2023: Land Rover (+3.8%) shines, sales off -37.6%

Land Rover Defender sales are up 35.3% in January.

Sales of new imported cars in China skid -37.6% year-on-year in January to just 55,198 units. Like it did a year ago in January 2022, Mercedes (-32.9%) easily takes the lead of the brands charts with over 13,500 sales, with BMW (-48.8%) up two spots on December to #2. Leader over the Full Year 2022, Lexus (-50.1%) loses half its year-ago volume and falls to #3. Porsche (-13.2%) resists very well at #4 while Land Rover (+3.8%) posts the only year-on-year gain in the Top 8. Toyota (-24.4%) and Volvo (-26.4%) keep their loss below the market rate just as Volkswagen (+32.5%) surges ahead to #9. Jaguar (+65.8%) and Bentley (+18.9%) shine below.

Model-wise, the Lexus ES (-51%) holds onto the pole position despite a drastic fall. It distances the Mercedes GLE (-54.4%) up two ranks on last month to #2 with the Porsche Cayenne (-27.4%) rounding out the podium. The Mercedes S-Class (-16.7%), Toyota Alphard (-10.4%) and Mercedes GLS (-22.3%) all fare better than the market below while the Lexus NX (+64.9%) soars to #7 vs. #12 over the Full Year 2022. The Porsche Macan (+13.8%) and Range Rover (+3%) also manage market defying year-on-year upticks in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, the Land Rover Defender (+35.3%) is up to #13.

Previous post: China imports 2022: Lexus and ES dominate again, Porsche up 1.3% in market freefalling -19%

One year ago: China imports January 2022: Mercedes takes control in market down -9.1%

Full January 2023 Top 36 all brands and Top 153 all models below.