D-segment cars is the most import in the Chinese market
- The Chinese passenger car market, which emerged in the early 2000s to become the largest market in the world twenty years later, was first a market MPVs and minivans, as in a certain number of countries in the South - East Asia. The market share of these vehicles has collapsed very quickly, gradually falling from 33% in the early 2000s to 20% in 2011, 10% in 2018 and 6% in 2022. With the enrichment of the middle classes, demand quickly shifted to sedans and SUVs.
- Sales growth was strongest in C-segment cars which gradually increased from 30% in the early 2000s to 55% in 2016, then these sales collapsed due to strong growth in car sales D-segment cars. C-segment cars only represents 36% of the Chinese market in 2022.
- The sales growth of D-segment cars perfectly illustrates the enrichment of the middle classes in China, these sales having increased from 20% in 2016 to 33% in 2019, 40% in 2021 and 44% in 2022, the D-segment having even supplanted the C-segment in 2022. It has thus become the most important segment in the Chinese market.
- At the same time, we are seeing an erosion in sales of A and B segment cars, which together represented 20% of the Chinese market in the early 2000s, but only 8% in 2022, even after a rebound of the A-segment (due to the success of the WulingMinEV). The E and F segments remain very weak (5% of the market in 2022 between them, compared to 2% at the start of the 2000s).