Chevrolet: GM China's new star?

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With the market for new passenger vehicles up 38% (year-on-year) in April, it's fairly hard not to be enjoying considerable success if you're an OEM operating in China just now. Most established brands are doing well but the short list of losers is revealing, especially as it contains the name of one particularly big-spending OEM.

There are no prizes for anyone hazarding a guess that the Volkswagen Group continues to lead the Chinese new vehicle market. After the first four months of 2010, the VW brand alone has enjoyed a record 434,555 sales (up 120,000 over Jan-Apr 2009), commanding a market share of 9.5% via its joint ventures with SAIC and FAW.

Where traditionally the ancient Santana series sedans were VW's biggest sellers, the Corolla-sized La Vida is now the best performer (over 77,769 sales in Jan-Apr), though the elderly and low-priced Jetta is still doing well, with 74,992 sold in the same period.

More than 100,000 units of the Wuling Sunshine were sold in April

The La Vida and Jetta perfectly illustrate what is happening in this now giant market. The newer, pricier car is selling well in Tier 1 cities such as Beijing, just as its rivals, such as the BYD F3, Chevrolet Cruze, Buick Excelle and Hyundai Elantra do. But in smaller metropolitan areas and more rural locations, buyers much prefer inexpensive, older-tech models such as the Jetta or Wuling's Sunshine micro-minivan.

The Sunshine, which is bundled into the one model series with the closely related Hongtu and Rongguang vans, goes from strength to strength. China's best selling vehicle of 2009 enjoyed a breathtaking sales performance in April, crossing the 100,000-unit mark in one month (100,542) for the first time. It is revealing to contrast that with a 42% surge to 40,946 registrations for the US market's best seller last month, Ford's F-Series.

If Wuling and its rivals Changan and BYD are the most obvious beneficiaries of an ongoing shift towards smaller, cheaper cars, then Chery Automobile also ought to be breaking sales records.

Chery is no longer a top-ten brand in China

Alas, the Wuhu-based firm's plethora of new brands seems to have confused buyers as old models are rebadged with baffling new names. Chery is no longer a top-ten OEM in its home market, sales having fallen to well under 200,000 in the first four months.

Perhaps the most fashionable brand is now BYD, its F3 small car having rung up just under 204,000 sales in the Jan-Apr period. BYD is also outselling fifth-placed Toyota, with 322,611 sales for the year to date, compared to the Japanese OEM's 268,123. Thanks to its small minivans, Changan-Chana is also ahead of Toyota with 291,207 sales.

The good news for Toyota, however, is its 47,000-unit lead over Nissan. It is also now 50,000 cars clear of sixth-place Honda (219,511) and Hyundai (218,568), now in seventh.

Chevy is now GM China’s new number one nameplate

Despite their ongoing successes, the surprise of 2010 is neither BYD, nor Chana nor Wuling as each of these also had a blockbuster 2009. No, instead it is General Motors and in particular the Chevrolet brand.

Used to playing second fiddle to Buick, Chevy is now GM China's new number one nameplate. The little Spark continues to sell well but lately sales of the Cruze have started to surge - in April alone, this family sedan found over 15,000 buyers.

With sources suggesting that the new-shape Spark will be built in China from later this year, and with a new Buick Excelle sedan about to be launched, the huge growth seen thus far in 2010 by General Motors may be only a small preview of what could be yet to come.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.
Published on Friday, May 21, 2010

Interesting. Either way, a GM brand is ahead of its competitors rather it be Buick or Chevrolet.