China's SUV sales surge 101% to 1.33M units in 2010

Sales of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in China surged 101.27% from a year earlier to 1.33 million units in 2010, surpassing the one million unit mark for the first time and making the SUV the brightest star in all vehicle segments in the country, china.com reported Friday, citing data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
 
The Great Wall Hover was the best-selling SUV in the domestic market in the past year, with 150,100 units sold, followed by the Honda CRV with 140,000 units, the Toyota RAV4 with 98,100 units, the Toyota Highlander with 81,000 units and the Hyundai Santa Fe with 77,200 units, according to the data.

Combined sales of the top five SUV models reached 546,400 units in 2010, accounting for 41% of China's total SUV sales which are expected to break 1.5 million units this year, Dongfeng Honda vice manager Liu Hong said earlier.

What consumers want from SUVs are not simply the constanly upgraded performance, or a sporty or dynamic element any more, they instead want to feel more comfortable driving the car while experiencing the convenience of its multi-functionality, industry analysts said.

China's passenger vehicle sales jumped 33.17% from 2009 to 13.76 million units last year, the CAAM said.