Which Cars Had 90 Percent Growth In China?

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: June 12th, 2010

Spoiled market watchers were disappointed by China’s less than red-hot May numbers: Passenger vehicles grew just 23.2 percent, the whole market grew 26 percent. Now here’s a number worth waiting for (or to induce a heart attack, if you have green leanings:)

China’s SUV sales jumped in May 90.5 percent compared to May 2009. That according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) via Gasgoo. All this year, SUV sales have been outpacing the Chinese market.

They are definitely not going out of style in the Middle Kingdom.

Top selling SUVs in China, January-May 2010:

Great Wall Hover 58,400 units
Honda CR-V 50,100 units
Toyota RAV4 40,000 units
Toyota Highlander 34,200 units
Hyundai Santa Fe 30,800 units

Those 5 account for 45 percent of China’s SUV market.

#BertelSchmitt #China #May2010 #Sales #SUV

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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6 comments

Lucianrosca on Jun 12, 2010

Bertel, just curious, is there in China a segment called crossovers? I remember in US a few years ago some SUVs going from one model year to the next, with minor changes like exterior color and chrome accents, were renamed crossovers just for marketing purposes, resulting in artificial segmentation changes.

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- BDB on Jun 12, 2010
  
  That's the thing, all the vehicles he listed so far ARE crossovers! They're car-based, handle like cars, ride like cars, get the fuel economy of cars, have the towing and off-roading capabilities of cars (read: nil) and even come in FWD in their base forms. SUV=truck based, BOF, RWD bias CUV=car-based, unibody FWD bias Think of the Suburban vs. the Traverse. They both can seat eight people and have a hatch, but they're in completely different vehicles classes.
  
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Mike999 on Jun 12, 2010

It's not scaring me. I've got my hybrid. You V8 Crazies should be SH*TTING your pants. You'd better start wearing GREEN underwear, because if we don't go Wind, Solar, Thorium Nuclear there will be a Collapse. But, let's not prepare for it and INCONVENIENCE BP [ or Exxon ] or JP Morgan in having to actually Invest in the Future, instead of sucking as much profit out of the system till it FAILS.

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- SCE to AUX on Jun 13, 2010
  
  Since the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline has only varied between $1.40 and $3.50 (http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasoline_inflation_chart.htm), I'm led to believe there is no shortage of it. In the 70s we were taught that oil had maybe 40 years left - that we would run out of it - phooey on that. The 'greedy' oil companies still manage to make record profits while we pay the same for gasoline as we did in the 1930s. And that includes the built-in taxes. Funny how they can spend billions on R&D and operations, still make a buck, and yet the product price remains fairly stable decade after decade. [Interestingly, the same is roughly true for a gallon of milk, in spite of population growth.] So if there was a shortage, the greedy oil companies would pass the cost on to me, in the spirit of free market economics, and/or I would have difficulty getting the product. If a true oil shortage occurs, people will use less oil, eventually driving the price back down. I don't believe in wasting oil, but I also think it's possible that it will never run out. After all, we don't even know where it comes from, but there is a theory that says it comes naturally from the earth and not from 'fossils'.
  
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- Mythicalprogrammer on Jun 13, 2010
  
  @Mike999 Shrug, free will can't force em to buy stuff against there will base on certain ideology. ^_^ I'm getting a hybrid honda fit soon. @gslippy "Funny how they can spend billions on R&D and operations, still make a buck, and yet the product price remains fairly stable decade after decade." It's not funny at all. They only R&D to get oil not to stop spillage. They also rape countries out of their oil while destroying their environment (ie. Nigeria & the Nigerian Terrorists). The oil profit only goes to the rich which helps keep in place dictator-like African presidents. "Still make a buck" They've been increasing prices and their profit margin have been wider then ever. This quote doesn't even make sense. Exxon posted their largest profit ever in 2009. The government subsidized those oil companies too. The prices you quote are USA prices. Oil prices aren't relative stable at all. Oil is a global commodity so therefore any small thing can cause oil prices to sky rocket (ie 1979 energy crisis). "So if there was a shortage, the greedy oil companies would pass the cost on to me, in the spirit of free market economics, and/or I would have difficulty getting the product." OPEC,
  
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- SCE to AUX on Jun 13, 2010
  
  @mythicalprogrammer: "The oil profit only goes to the rich which helps keep in place dictator-like African presidents." So Exxon-Mobil's record profits don't really go to the US corporation; they go to African dictators? That's an interesting conspiracy theory; perhaps it appears in their annual report. "OPEC,
  
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