Shanghai (ZXZC)- For the entire year of 2022, there were 768,274 imported passenger vehicles (PVs) delivered across China, representing an 18.2% decrease year-on-year, according to Sinomach Automobile Co., Ltd., China's largest dealer of imported vehicles.

To be specific, the annual imported PV deliveries were composed of 351,401 cars, 387,861 SUVs, and 29,012 MPVs, which fell 15%, 21.4%, and 10.3% from the previous year, respectively.

Bentley Flying Spur; photo credit: Bentley

As for monthly performance, the deliveries of imported PVs in China reached 67,092 units in Dec. 2022, falling 14.3% over the year-ago period. The MPV sector faced the biggest year-on-year decline in the last month of last year mainly due to the downturn in the sales of the Toyota Sienna and Alphard.Of the imported PVs delivered in China last year, 692,358 units were under luxury car brands, reflecting a 17.9% year-on-year downward movement. Luxury brands hereby consist of Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Cadillac, Lexus, Land Rover, Maserati, MINI, Acura, smart, Tesla, Volvo, Infiniti, etc.

Ultra-luxury brands, including Aston Martin, Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, McLaren, etc., saw their combined imported PV deliveries in China rose 9% over a year earlier to 688 units in last Dec. mainly because of the rising sales of the Bentley Flying Spur range, resulting in a full-year delivery volume of 8,650 units (+7.2% YoY).

Among the top 10 brands by Dec. sales of imported PVs in China, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen were the only two to achieve a year-on-year growth. Toyota ranked 7th, but it was confronted with the sharpest year-over-year decrease.

In terms of the yearly imported PV deliveries in China, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW were still the top 3 brands. Despite the overall downturn, the annual imported PV deliveries still grew year on year for both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche brands.