The Chinese car market is one of the most diverse, with over 400 different locally produced passenger cars, and more than 1.000 including import models, minivans and commercial vehicles. And it keeps expanding, with 12 all-new models in March, 7 introductions in April and another 7 in May, excluding 3 additional (electrified) versions of existing models. We’ve already discussed the overall May 2016 sales figures for China, here we’ll introduce those newly launched models for this month.
FAW Xenia R7
The most successful new introduction is from a brand that has suffered from a product drought, as this is only the third new model in the past 20 months. No wonder the FAW Xenia R7 immediately becomes the brand’s second best selling model in its introduction month with 3.931 sales, more than a quarter of FAW brand sales in May, but not enough to keep the brand from losing 17,3% of volume this month. The Xenia R7 is a small crossover priced from 69.800 Yuan (US$ 10,600 / € 9.350), powered by a 1,6 liter four-cylinder engine with 109hp and 155 Nm. Size: 4.300/1.780/1.650 mm. It is produced by FAW-Jilin, a subsidiary of First Auto Works based in Jilin province. It will probably replace the FAW Xenia, also known as Xenia M80, which was based on the previous generation Daihatsu Xenia / Toyota Avanza, the best selling cars in Indonesia. But don’t be surprised if this model stays in production, as long as there’s demand for an even cheaper alternative. [Read more…]
Sales of automobiles in China increased 13,3% in May, the fastest growth rate so far in 2016. That means just over 1,7 million new passenger cars were registered in the country, for a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Selling Rate of 22,1 million in May. Year to date, the figure stands at 8,8 million sales, an increase of 9,7% over the same period last year. Local brands continue to lag the overall market after enjoying a short boom in share in the beginning of 2016. In May, their share was down to 37,5%, the lowest of the year so far, but still up from 35,2% in May 2015. Sales of SUVs and crossovers jumped 36% to 627.000 units, MPVs followed with a 28% increase to 182.000 sales and even sedans sales were back into positive territory, albeit slightly at 1,5% to 904.000. Sales of EVs and PHEVs continued to thrive, with electric cars up 162% to 26.000 sales and Plug-in Hybrids gained 68% to 9.000 units.
Breaking news: Jaguar Land Rover has finally started to report sales of its locally produced models in China: the 
After discussing the 
April 2016 marks the 32nd consecutive month of growth for car sales in Europe. At +8,9%, European car dealers sold 1.308.891 passenger cars, making it the best April since 2009 and bringing the year-to-date figure to 5.217.097, an increase of 8,1%. Of the five major markets, Spain is the most dynamic with a growth of 21,2%. Italy, which was the fastest growing market in the first few months and even outsold France in January and February, sees its growth slow down to a still very healthy +11,5%. Germany (+8,4%), France (+7,1%) and the UK (+2%) are in single digit growth, while Switzerland is the only country of the EU28 to lose volume in April, at -1%.
It shouldn’t really surprise anybody that Mitsubishi finally got taken over by a larger auto maker, the brand was simply too small and too irrelevant in the world’s most important markets to survive on its own. But the way Nissan played its cards was a stroke of genius, whether intentional from the get-go or just improvising on the opportunity at hand. Mitsubishi has supplied its bigger rival with Japanese market minicars (“Kei” cars, as described in my article on the