For the first time in 5 years, I had the opportunity to visit China for the Beijing Auto Show. It was also the chance to check out the car landscape in the streets of Beijing. Needless to say that in five years, the cars in the streets have completely changed…
AITO M9 After wholesales, it is now time to cover retail sales for China. The selection of vehicles included in this report add up to 1,449,696 units for April, down -5.9% year-on-year. The year-to-date tally remains in positive however at +8.7% to 6,086,739. BSCB is the only non-Chinese medium to…
The Range Rover hits a record ranking in April. Sales of new imported cars in China drop -11.4% year-on-year in April to 50,887 units, leading to a year-to-date tally off -8.3% to 212,089. Imports are now dwarfed by exports which passes the 500,000 monthly unit mark for the first time…
Xiaomi SU7 Let's examine the newcomers in the Chinese wholesales charts for April. This month we have 12 new models hitting dealerships, 10 of them Chinese. I keep repeating this but once again this shows the extraordinary rate at which domestic manufacturers launch new models compared with foreign ones. To…
First Top 10 finish for the BYD Destroyer 05. According to data by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the Chinese wholesales market is up 9.3% year-on-year to 2,359,000 units. This includes 2,002,000 Passenger Vehicles (+10.5%) and 357,000 Commercial Vehicles. Year-to-date, volumes are up 10.2% to 9,079,000 with Passenger…
Zeekr 007 We have covered the noticeable foreign and Chinese brands at the Beijing Auto Show, but we have kept the best for last. Here are the three most impressive brands at the Show, that happen to be all Chinese. Another proof that the Chinese market is moving at breakneck…
Hyper SSR It's now time to go through the noticeable Chinese brands at home, the Beijing Auto Show. These are classified in alphabetical order, so no particular preferences here. The 3 most impressive Chinese brands at the show will be revealed in a separate article. The main takeaway is that…
Toyota bZ3X Arriving in Beijing for what is my first time in China in 5 years, the most striking feat is of course how different the cars are in the street. At Chinese speed, 5 years are actually equivalent to maybe 10-15 years in the rest of the world. So…
First Top 10 finish for the BYD Destroyer 05. The selection of models including in this update drop -6.1% year-on-year in March to reach a retail sales figure of 1,469,639 units. The year-to-date tally is still in positive however at +14.2% to 4,634,280 thanks to a fantastic January result (+68.1%).…
Mini sales buck the negative trend in March. Sales of new imported cars in China skid -16.5% year-on-year in March to 52,807 units, leading to a year-to-date volume down -7.3% to 161,152. Lexus (+47.7%) easily repeats as the #1 brand and catches up on a weak yer-ago performance. Mercedes (-36.9%) freefalls…
Li Auto Mega It's now time to study the newcomers in the Chinese wholesales charts. This month we have 8 new models hitting dealerships, 7 of them Chinese. This again illustrate the dynamism of domestic brands vs. foreign ones. To fully understand the scope of the Chinese market, make sure…
The BYD Qin Plus sells over 50,000 units in a month for the first time. Based on data shared by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the Chinese wholesales market is up 9.9% year-on-year in March to 2,694,000 units. This includes 2,236,000 Passenger Vehicles (+10.9%) and 458,000 Commercial Vehicles (+5.6%).…
Our eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the number of brands included in our Exclusive Chinese Brands Guide steadily decline over the past month or so. We have indeed refreshed our Guide to reflect the constant streamlining of the Chinese market. We removed over 20 brands from our guide, including Dorcen,…
Chery Arrizo 8 sales are up 269.9% year-on-year in February. Retail sales for the selection of vehicles included in this update are off -16.3% year-on-year in February to 1,051,694, as the Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year. The year-to-date tally remains up by a stunning 26.8% to…
Lexus RX The Lunar New Year holidays falling in February this year instead of January in 2023, sales of new imported cars in China drop -40.6% year-on-year this month to just 32,968. However the two-month total, reflecting the real evolution of the market, is down just -2% to 108,442, a…