New | SUV sales will outpace sedans on China’s roads, carmakers say

Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are the fastest-growing category of new cars on Chinese roads, attracting every major marque to throw their design, development and marketing resources behind this segment in the world’s largest vehicle market.

From Porsche’s Cayenne and Macan to Bentley’s Bentayga, or Maserati’s Levante to the home brand Great Wall Haval, every carmaker with an SUV in the product range is counting on the insatiable demand by Chinese customers.

The preference for the “command position”, which gave the driver an elevated view of the roads, was a “customer choice that transcends gender and race”, making SUVs the preferred vehicle type for many younger customers, said Uwe Ellinghaus, chief marketing officer of General Motors’ Cadillac.

The Cadillac XT5 compact SUV, assembled in Shanghai along with SAIC Motor, with a sticker price of between 360,000 yuan (US$52,000) and 540,000 yuan, was “at the heart of the biggest segment in China”, Ellinghaus said at the Shanghai Auto Show.

SUV sales accounted for 37 per cent of the total vehicle sales in China last year, up from a mere 5.7 per cent a decade ago.

Ellinghaus and other car executives expect unit sales in the segment, which expanded 21 per cent from last year to 2.4 million units in the first quarter, to outpace those of compact cars, sedans and limousines eventually. Soon, there might be more SUVs on Chinese roads than other types of vehicles, they said.