AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/03 Report--

From January to February 2019, domestic passenger car dealers retail 3.75 million vehicles, an increase of 1.4% over the same period last year. Car imports declined seriously in February. Data show that customs imports of passenger cars in February were 47000, down 36.1% from the same period last year. Of this total, 45800 passenger cars were imported, down 37.3% from the same period last year. A total of 5700 parallel cars were imported in that month, down 30.8% from the same period last year. In addition, due to the impact of the Spring Festival holiday, car imports fell 25 per cent to 127000 in the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year.

In terms of specific brands, Lexus surpassed BMW in the top 10 brands in February, with a year-on-year growth rate of 26.3%. In terms of the performance of the top 10 brands from January to February, Lexus ranked first and was the only growing brand, up 16.5% from a year earlier. BMW-Mercedes-Benz imports fell 60.7 per cent and 70.2 per cent in the month, while Tesla imported 2317 vehicles in February. The first batch of Model 3 officially arrived in China on February 12, followed by delivery in March.

Lexus is sold as a pure import in the Chinese market, so it can compete with first-tier luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW in terms of import volume. Lexus sold 10379 vehicles in china in February, up 4.4% from a year earlier, down more than 4000 from a month earlier, and Lexus's growth rate has slowed this year compared with last year's double-digit growth. In terms of models, Lexus has launched more than 10 models in China, of which ES, NX, and RX sell well. The compact SUV UX launched at the beginning of this year further enriches the product lineup, with an official price of 268000-371000 yuan, becoming the latest entry-level SUV for Lexus, further lowering the price threshold.

Global sales of Lexus in 2018 were 698330, up 4.5% from a year earlier, while sales in China reached 160468, up 21% from a year earlier, Lexus revealed at a Beijing exchange conference on Feb. 20. Lexus's share of China's luxury car market has risen to 5.7%, and officials hope to increase its share to 10% by 2020.

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