(Yicai) Aug. 11 -- Toyota Motor's Corolla Cross was the only gasoline-powered vehicle to break into China’s 10 best-selling passenger cars in July, despite the Japanese auto manufacturer’s declining sales in the country.

Toyota’s Corolla Cross ranked eighth among the top 10 passenger cars by retail sales last month, with 14,510 units sold, according to automotive information platform Dongchedi, citing data from the China Passenger Car Association. Its ranking jumped 28 places from June. The other nine models were all new energy vehicles.

Geely’s Xingyuan topped the list with 32,306 units sold, followed by Leapmotor’s A10 with 26,424 autos and Tesla’s Model Y with 25,158 units. The Model Y was also the most expensive model among the top 10, costing between CNY263,500 (USD39,055) and CNY313,500.

Seven gasoline-powered models ranked among the 20 best-selling vehicles in July. Toyota occupied three positions, while Volkswagen and Hangzhou-based Geely each had two. The Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Lavida, which both entered the top 10 in June, slumped to 17th and 14th place, respectively.

The data also shows that the sales threshold for entering the top 10 dropped to 13,757 units in July from 15,444 vehicles in June. Similarly, the threshold for the top 20 tumbled to 10,820 autos from 13,798 units.

July is traditionally a slow season for the auto market, as the effect of June’s half-year sales push becomes apparent, indicating that the market will revert to being driven by genuine demand, the China Passenger Car Association said.

NEVs have shown greater resilience than fossil fuel-powered vehicles, with their declines in both month-on-month and year-on-year sales being smaller than those of gasoline-powered autos, the association said. This has continued to offset the shortfall caused by the shrinking fuel-powered car market and ease the downward pressure on retail sales, it added.

Editor: Kim Taylor