Honda sales in China drop 6% year on year in September

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Honda Motor posted a year-on-year (YoY) sales drop of 6% with 132,755 vehicles delivered in China last month, according to the sales data released by Honda China. For the first nine months, the Japanese automaker sold 965,004 vehicles in the world's largest auto market with a YoY decline of 6.9%. 

GAC Honda's sales in September amounted to 64,858 units, edging down 3.5% over a year ago. During the first three quarters, the joint venture saw its year-to-date (YTD) sales slightly fall 0.8% to 515,705.

The sales of Honda-branded cars reached 64,100 units, shrinking 2.4% over a year earlier. However, its YTD sales represented a tiny positive growth of 0.1% compared with the same period a year ago. The Accord, with 16,369 vehicles sold last month, became the best seller. The sales of the Odyssey and Fit in September gained YoY growth of over 50%, which somewhat offset the sales decline made by the City, the CRIDER and the AVANCIER, etc.

The premium brand Acura still failed to bounce back from the previous depressed performances. Last month, it delivered only 758 vehicles, suffering a YoY plunge of 52.3%. Its YTD sales were 6,019 units, 42.9% less than that of the previous year. 

Dongfeng Honda posted a YoY drop of 8.3% with 67,897 vehicles handed over last month. Its Jan-to-Sept sales declined 13.1% YoY as well to 449,299 units.

Apart from the CIVIC and the XR-V, most models of Dongfeng Honda faced YoY reduction in September. The monthly sales of the CR-V, following the XR-V, tumbled 30.1% over the previous year to 13,679 units. The CIVIC remained the leadership among all models of the joint venture with its September sales surging 45.2% to 23,277 units.