AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/19 Report--

The federation released figures on passenger car production and sales in January 2019, which showed that retail sales of narrow passenger cars (sedans + SUV+MPV) in the same month were 2.16 million, down 4 per cent from a year earlier and 2.8 per cent from a month earlier. Retail sales growth improved in January compared with an average of-15.0% year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter of last year.

By segment, car sales in January were 1.072 million, up 2.2 per cent from a year earlier, down 2.1 per cent from a month earlier, 938000 SUV sales, down 9.1 per cent from a year earlier, up 3.6 per cent from a month earlier and 151000 MPVs, down 11.1 per cent from a year earlier and 3 per cent from a month earlier.

At the same time, the FIFA also released a ranking of manufacturers' sales in January. FAW-Volkswagen achieved 1.6 per cent year-on-year stickiness, winning the top spot in car sales with a cumulative sales volume of 191446 vehicles. FAW-Volkswagen is followed by SAIC-Volkswagen and SAIC-GM, with the top three cumulative sales accounting for more than 25% of the total. Geely has been in the top five for many months since it climbed to fourth place last year, while other independent brands in the top 10 are Great Wall Motor and Changan Automobile. It is worth noting that Beijing Mercedes-Benz made it into the top 15 as a luxury manufacturer for the first time on the sales list of domestic car companies in January 2019.

Overall, sales in the top 10 declined, with six of the ten car companies showing year-on-year declines to varying degrees, with Changan Motor falling the most, with sales falling 34% to 73118 vehicles in January, while Beijing Hyundai, on the contrary, achieved a 47.1% year-on-year increase in the month, which pushed up the rankings by two places.

In addition to the 15th place, independent brand BYD was also on the list, ranking 14th, thanks to the best-selling new energy sales of nearly 60,000 vehicles in the month, up 49% from a year earlier. Beijing Mercedes-Benz is the only luxury brand in the top 15.

North-South Volkswagen and SAIC General Motors have been firmly in the front row. Last year, SAIC-Volkswagen was the only company with retail sales of more than 2 million passenger cars. FAW-Volkswagen will also sell nearly two million vehicles a year. The performance of the two car companies was relatively stable in January. FAW-Volkswagen also achieved 1.6 per cent year-on-year growth, surpassing SAIC-Volkswagen to win the championship.

Geely's performance was undoubtedly the brightest last year, with sales jumping to nearly 1.5 million vehicles, an increase of more than 20 per cent year-on-year. In January, Geely no longer continued last year's rapid growth, with monthly sales down 1.7 per cent.

Sales of Korean brand Beijing Hyundai picked up, reaching 110316 in January, an increase of 47% over the same period last year. Data showed that 24000 models were led in that month, and Festa exceeded 10,000 again. In the SUV market, sales of the new ix35 reached 22050 in January this year, exceeding 20, 000 again, setting a new record for monthly sales. The ix25 also sold 11459 vehicles in January. This year, Beijing Hyundai will launch the fourth generation of Shengda, a new generation of Sonata, a new generation of ix25 and so on.

Among the many brands, Chang'an had the biggest decline, down 34.3% from the same month last year, with sales of only 73118 vehicles. Changan Automobile has been a fiasco in 2018, with almost all its brands declining, with all brands selling 2.137785 million vehicles for the whole year, down 25.58 per cent from the same period last year. In view of the sharp decline in sales, Changan Automobile expects a net profit of 500 million yuan to 750 million yuan in 2018, down 92.99% from a year earlier to 89.49% compared with about 7.137 billion yuan in 2017.

Mercedes-Benz got off to a good start in China this year, with a historic sales record of 71697 vehicles delivered in China in January, up 4.8 per cent from a year earlier, while domestic Beijing Mercedes-Benz accounted for more than 70 per cent of sales. This year will be the "year of SUV" of Mercedes-Benz. According to its plan, Mercedes-Benz will launch more than 15 models, including the new GLS, the new GLE, the new GLC L, the new GLA, the EQC and other 10 SUV. Among them, the EQC, the first pure electric model of the Mercedes-Benz brand, will be officially listed in China at the end of this year, and Beijing Mercedes-Benz has set a sales target of 560000 vehicles in 2019.

In addition, the Federation also released the top 15 retail sales of cars, SUV and MPV in January. (the ranking data is retail sales, which is different from the wholesale quantity announced by the manufacturer.)

Car sales in January were 1.072 million, up 2.2 per cent from a year earlier and-2.1 per cent month-on-month. Xinlang Yi's monthly sales soared 52% to 54134 vehicles compared with the same period last year, while Xuanyi was not bad, with monthly sales of 43073 vehicles, an increase of 40.2% over the same period last year.

SUV sales in January were 938000, up-9.1 per cent from a year earlier and-3.6 per cent month-on-month. Harvard H6, Baojun 510 and Volkswagen Touguan, which ranked the top three in that month, all showed a big year-on-year decline, while Beijing Hyundai's ix35 jumped 121% to the fourth on the list.

MPV sales in January were 151000, up-11.1% year-on-year and-3.0% month-on-month. Wuling Hongguang is still far ahead, with monthly sales of 49059 vehicles, up 1.2 per cent from a year earlier.

China's auto market has entered a cold spell in 2018, and according to industry experts' forecasts, it is still difficult to see a significant recovery in the domestic auto market this year. Car sales in 2019 are expected to be 28 million, the same as in 2018. 2019 is a great challenge for all major car manufacturers, and the market environment of survival of the fittest is also more prominent.

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