Japanese manufacturers' 2014 performance not living up to expectations, FAW Toyota revises sales goal down by 6%

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai October 3) -  "It will certainly be difficult to fulfill the 660,000 sales target," FAW Toyota Public Relations Director Ma Chunping stated in a recent interview with the China Business Daily. Mr. Ma elaborated further on the topic: "Although the Vios and New Corolla have benefited from national subsidies worth 3,000 RMB ($488.06), which has helped increase the competiveness of these two already hot-selling models, the subpar sales of the Crown mean that it may not be very easy for us to reach our sales target."

Major Japanese manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda, are still quite a ways away from fulfilling their sales goals for the China market. Even the promise of recovering sales volumes in September and October may very likely prevent these manufacturers from reaching their prescribed sales targets.

FAW Toyota, in particular, has revised its original sales target of 660,000 vehicles down by six percent to 620,000 vehicles. Despite this decision on part of its joint venture, Toyota China still has confidence that it can fulfill its Chinese sales target for the year. According to Spokesman Niu Yu, the manufacturer has no plans to reduce its sales target for the year.

The original 2014 sales targets for Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Mazda and Mitsubishi combined were four million vehicles. Among them, sales targets for the top three of Nissan, Toyota and Honda are 1.4 million vehicles, 1.1 million vehicles and 900,000 vehicles, respectively. However, the actual performance of these manufacturers' has not lived up to expectations. The growth rates for each of these manufacturers have failed to meet market averages. Nissan's sales for the first eight months of the year totaled 78,500 vehicles, while those of Toyota and Honda were 619,200 vehicles and 445,500 vehicles, respectively. The sales growth rates for the three manufacturers were 9.4 percent, 9.7 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively. By comparison, according to statistics from the China Passenger Car Association, the market's average growth over that time period was 11 percent, two percent points less than the 13 percent rate from last year.

By comparison, European and American manufacturers have performed much better than their Japanese rivals. VW has seen its sales grew 16.5 percent for the January to August time period, with its total sales volume for the time period totaling 2.4 million vehicles. GM sold a total of 2.26 million vehicles over the same period of time, representing year-on-year sales growth of 11.1 percent. Ford's sales for the time period totaled 717,537 units, up 30 percent from the previous year.

Analysts attribute Japanese manufacturers' poor performance to the decreasing prices of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz models, VW's new marketing tactics, and the increasing importance of SUVs in the Chinese market. The fierce competition in the 200,000 RMB to 300,000 RMB ($32,537-$48,806)price range has led to falling sales of the Nissan Teana, Honda Accord and Toyota Crown. Industry Analyst Zhang Zhiyong explained that Japanese manufacturers are still suffering from poor Sino-Japanese relations.