August sales of medium and high-end SUVs: Tiguan ranks second in negative growth in the second RAV4

January-August Sales: The fastest growing Highlander (2.7L)

The SUV market is the fastest growing automobile market in China since this year. According to data from the Federation of Travel Unions, in August of this year, sales volume of domestically produced SUVs increased by 77.0% year-on-year; cumulative sales from January to August increased by 100.6%. A major factor contributing to the surge in SUV sales is the listing of many new domestic SUVs this year, especially the high-end SUV models launched by joint venture auto makers - Shanghai Volkswagen Tiguan and Beijing Hyundai ix 35. Before the two vehicles went on the market, the domestic high-end SUV market was dominated by the Japanese models CR-V, RAV4, Highlander 2.7L, Qashqai, Qijun, and the Korean models Lion Run and Tucson were competing.

The sales of these foreign-brand high-end SUVs in January-August 2010 increased 105.6% to 412,648 units, an increase higher than the average growth rate of China's SUV industry; August sales also increased by 74.3% to 62,080 units.

August sales: Tiguan rose to second, negative growth in RAV4

Looking at sales in August alone, Tiguan ranks second with 9,317 vehicles, but it still has a 2,961-unit sales gap with CR-V (see Figure 2). The sales of ix 35 have also risen to fourth place.

In August of last year, the RAV4 sold 8975 units to CR-V (9247 units). In August of this year, the RAV4 sales volume decreased by 7.7% year-on-year to 8,286 units. This is the first time since the launch of the model in April 2009 that sales have fallen year-on-year. (See Table 1)

Note:

The medium and high-end SUVs in this article refer to domestically produced SUVs that are priced between 15-30 million yuan. Highlander's 3.5L displacement model is a high-end SUV, which is beyond the scope of this article.