There were some winners, and some losers in the end of year sales reporting from the Chinese manufacturers this week. It seems that GM are holding top spot, but with VW right on their tailes!
1. GM - 508,308 vehicles (thats the combined Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac etc sales)
2. FAW VW - 459, 359
3. Shanghai VW - 436, 343
4. Chery - 381,000
5. Guangzhou Honda - 295,000
6. FAW Toyota - 281, 952
7. Dongfeng Nissan - 271,915
8. Beijing Hyundai - 231,175
9. Geely - 219,512
10. Chang’an Ford - 217,100
This list really puts it into prospective as to what sells the most in China. China Car Times was originally under the impression that Ford do very well in China, judging by the amount of Focus and Mondeos we see on the roads on a daily basis, the same with Nissan Tiidas (Versa), but it seems the top of the pile is GM (although, statistically speaking, VW have greater sales but are spread over two JV partners) Its nice to see two of the biggest domestic players in the list as well. Chery is far ahead of Geely, possibly due to their more modern designs and seemingly greater dealer network.
Update, thanks, Xi Lei.
7. Dongfeng Nissan - 971,915 -> 271,915 ?
Cheers
Xi Lei,
Thanks for pointing that out, I updated it a few hours back but forgot to thank you.
That’s good information, but what is the source? Some sources of these year end figures are not reliable.
If GM only sold 508 308 vehicle in 2007, how come they celebrated their millionth car sold in 2007????
Joest, and Dragin, here is another article that may be of interest to you:
Shanghai. January 10 (Gasgoo.com) – General Motors has sold 1,031,974 vehicles in Chinese market in 2007, up 18.5 percent from one year earlier, the company announced today.
Shanghai GM sold 479,427 vehicles in domestic market (not including exports), up 16.9 percent from one year earlier. Buick, Shanghai GM’s best selling brand, sold 332,115 vehicles, of which the most popular Excelle sold an impressive amount of 197,072 vehicles. Shanghai GM also sold 42,000 GL8 MPV vehicles.
In luxury car segment market, Shanghai GM sold 77,000 Park Avenue and Lacrosse vehicles, 7,040 Cadillac and 618 Saab vehicles.
In minivan segment, SAI-GM-Wuling, a joint venture in which General Motors holds a 34 percent stake, sold 548,945 vehicles, up 20.1 percent from one year earlier. The best selling model, Wuling Sunshine sold a surprising amount of 367,744 vehicles, the best selling model in Chinese market.
It is a very interesting perspective to see what auto brands sell well in China verses what auto brands Chinese Americans buy. Here in New York City where I live and even in California where I visit often, most of the cars I see in the Asian community are Japanese ( Honda, Toyota, Nissan) or German ( BMW and Mercedes). Some Volkswagon, very few GM cars.
GM’s joint venture with SAIC sold 500,308 units. The GM-SAIC-Wuling joint venture sold 520,000 minivans, etc.. The balance of the 1,031,974 were apparently imports of everything from Opels to Cadillacs.
But the manufacturer which remains on top among foreign players is VW. Combining both its SAIC and FAW joint ventures, it domestically made and sold more than any other manufacturer in China. And so they continue to enjoy the biggest share of the pie, with 18% for 2007.
A correction to the above. I’m sorry. Although VW has been at the top of the pile (of foreign makers)for a long time in mainland China, this past year 2007, the total of VW-badged vehicles ,and Audi-badged vehicles, sold is 910,491 units. This includes imports. So GM is indeed on top and moving full steam ahead. (see Xinhuanet.com January 13,2008)
What will 2008 bring for these big guys? Probably some slippage as Chery and other domestics continue to ratchet up.
The 18% VW market share figure seen above was released by the Associated Press, and includes Hong Kong. Maybe someone can add here what the total GM market share has now become.