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Great Wall Motors Company Limited sold more SUVs in October than a year earlier, finally putting to a halt its declining sales performance for the past three consecutive months.
The company was able to sell 70,563 vehicles last month, but 52,834 of these were SUVs.
Overall, Great Wall's October sales was 6 percent higher than the year before.
The sale of 52,834 SUVs reflects a remarkable increase of 39 percent in total sales year-on-year.
Unfortunately, this was offset by the 34-percent drop in the sale of sedans and the 6-percent decrease in the sale of pickup trucks. In October, Great Wall managed to sell only 8,646 sedan units and 9,083 pickup units.
Great Wall's October rebound can be attributed to the increasing demand for its line of SUV products, particularly its Haval H6 that became the bestselling SUV and the Haval H2 that became the fifth most in-demand SUV in October, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
The market distribution of the company's latest flagship vehicle, the Haval H8 which is touted as Great Wall's first high-end SUV, has been stopped twice this year because of customer complaints about "knocking noises" in the transmission system when driving at high speeds.
Priced at 201,800 to 236,800 yuan, sale of the vehicle resumed after the company announced the correction of at least eight "deficiencies" in the Haval H8. However, almost immediately after the announcement, the company again halted selling the Haval H8. Great Wall Chairman Wei Jianjun said that the company may resume selling the high-end SUV in January next year, at the earliest.
Great Wall's profit was particularly adversely affected when it stopped the sales of Haval H8 in May. According to the company, its profit in the first nine months of the year declined 9 percent to 5.6 billion yuan ($918 million) due to the slowdown in vehicle sales.
During those first nine months, the company was able to sell 508,510 vehicles, which was 8 percent down from the year before. From January to September, Great Wall sold 346,267 SUVs, 91,553 pickups and 70,690 sedans.
