A model poses with a Great Wall H7 SUV at the Shanghai Auto Show in 2013. Among all the local brands, Great Wall's Haval was the top-volume seller in the SUV segment with a 56.8 percent year-on-year hike to 99,102 units in the first two months of 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Chinese automakers' targeted approach pays off with rising

Chinese brands saw a sudden surge in sales in the first two months of 2015 in the passenger vehicle, or PV, segment, which IHS Automotive said included sedans, sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, and multi-purpose vehicles, or MPVs only.

Sales of local Chinese brands rose by 41.71 percent in the PV segment in the first two months of the year to 972,833 units. The top brand was Changan, followed by Haval from Great Wall Motors.

Sales of Changan, the in-house brand at Changan Auto, soared 102.69 percent year-on-year, in the first two months. Haval, Great Wall's SUV brand, witnessed an even higher growth rate of 131.50 percent year-on-year.

The models that predominantly pushed up sales of domestic players in the first couple of months of the year were SUVs.

Some Chinese consumers consider SUVs to be family vehicles and rate them as safe and spacious; therefore, the SUV segment continues to see double-digit growth in China.

Sales of SUVs produced by local brands in China rose 52.17 percent year-on-year to 424,770 units in the year-to-date period in February.

Great Wall's Haval brand was the top-volume seller in the SUV segment with a 56.8 percent year-on-year hike to 99,102 units in the first two months of 2015.

Haval has more SUVs on offer this year. The Hover H1, H2 and H9 are all new SUV models boosting sales for the brand.

Changan followed as second-best seller, with the CS35 and the new CS75 SUV models boosting sales. The brand sold 61,318 SUVs in the first two months of the year, up 71.2 percent year-on-year.

The third-highest SUV-selling local brand was Jianghuai from automaker Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Company, or JAC. The brand added the Refine S3 to the Refine S5 SUV, which helped SUV sales grow by 78.44 percent year-on-year to 40,231 units in the two-month period.

Beijing Auto, the in-house brand of Beijing Automotive Industry Group Co, or BAIC, witnessed an SUV sales jump of 96.63 percent year-on-year in the two-month period, with 36,397 units of its eight SUVs sold.

BYD's SUV sales rose 10.49 percent in the January-February period, with 22,479 units sold following the addition of the S7 SUV to the existing S6.

In the first two months of 2015, FAW's SUV sales were up 31.92 percent year-on-year, Zotye's were up 81.43 percent, Haima's were up 61.87 percent, Dongfeng's rose 99.38 percent and Geely's increased 51.58 percent. These brands all added SUVs to boost sales.