SAIC's October Rise Indicates Strong Volkswagen China Sales. Ford Up 48%
China’s SAIC told Reuters today that its October auto sales rose 20.7 percent year-on-year to 414,471 units. This indicates a very strong jump in Volkswagen sales.
SAIC has car joint ventures with GM and Volkswagen, in addition to currently not highly consequential own brand sales. Ignoring own brand sales, as a rule of thumb, GM amounts to roughly two thirds of SAIC’s sales, Volkswagen one third. Volkswagen also has a joint venture with FAW.
GM’s China sales were up approximately 14 percent in October. A 20.7 percent rise in overall SAIC sales would indicate that the numerically smaller Volkswagen share saw considerable growth in October. Volkswagen’s China sales were up 24 percent in September, the company said.
Volkswagen outsold GM in China in the third quarter of the year. In the first nine months, GM was only 80,000 units ahead of Volkswagen. With a strong October, Volkswagen could bypass GM in China and dethrone it as China’s largest automaker by units.
Ford’s China sales were up 48 percent to 60,518 units in October. For the year, Ford’s sales are up 14 percent, mainly driven by very good Focus sales.
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Technically, VW wouldn't actually top them as the top automakers, as the cars are built by FAW and SAIC, but the top brand group. But I'm picking nits ...