China imports February 2023: Mercedes (+55%) stays #1, Porsche (+122.1%), Toyota (+94.2%) stand out, sales up 30.6%

Imported sales place Mercedes in the #1 spot in February.

For once the import market in China bounces back up 30.6% year-on-year to 55,431 sales. After a devastated month of January (-37.6%), this leads to a year-to-date volume off -15.5% to 110,629. Mercedes (+55%) surges ahead to stay in first place with almost 13,000 sales, a fair margin (over 3.000 units) above traditional leader Lexus (-23.8%) in freefall despite the market jump. Lexus is hampered by imploding sales of the RX (-96.2%). BMW (+34.9%) also beats the market at #3 while Porsche (+122.1%) delivers the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 13 at #4. Toyota (+94.2%), Volvo (+90.4%) and Volkswagen (+87.7%) also stun in the remainder of the Top 10 with Audi (+36.4%) higher than the market growth but Mini (-14.6%) receding. Below, Jaguar (+589.8%), Maserati (+80.2%) and Bentley (+73.5%) impress.

As far as models are concerned, the Lexus ES (-20.1%) manages to stay in the lead, selling almost double the amount of the #2, another Lexus, the NX (+100.3%) in outstanding shape. The Mercedes GLE (+24.9%) drops one spot on January to #3 ahead of the Toyota Alphard (+128.9%) and the Porsche Cayenne (+135.2%) at #5. All remaining models in the Top 13 outpace the market, with the BMW 4 Series (+222.2%) faring best ahead of the Porsche Macan (+144.8%), BMW 5 Series (+132.4%), Porsche Panamera (+85.4%) and Land Rover Defender (+81.8%). The Mercedes GLS (+53%) and S Class (+45.5%) also shine.

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

One year ago: China imports February 2022: Lexus regains top spot in market sinking -22.5%

Full February 2023 Top 35 all brands and Top 150 all models below.