The rise in sales of Japanese passenger vehicles slows down in China in October, Honda accelerates to launch new models

Gasgoo.com（Shanghai Nov 12）- Honda released its sales in China’s market in October, which indicated that the rise has slowed down to some extent though the passenger vehicles market has revived. This also happened to Mazda and Toyota whose sales in China suffered a decrease of 1.2%.

According to the statistics of Honda in China, its sales in October totaled 83,000, with a year-on-year increase of 25.2%, which performed better compared with other joint automotive ventures. However, its total sales in the first ten month this year reached 778,000, increasing by 33.1%. Therefore, based on this, the rise on monthly base appeared a considerable decrease.

Meanwhile, on the contrary, the whole market of passenger vehicles has regained momentum with a year-on-year increase of 14.9% in October based on statistics from China Passenger Cars Association (short for CPCA). Under this circumstance, most of automotive enterprises have achieved better performance than before while Japanese automotive enterprises have run in opposite direction.

The monthly sales of brand models of Mazda reached 20,000 in October, with a year-on-year rise of 1.5%, which was less than 1/6 of the cumulative growth rate in the first ten months this year. At the same time, Toyota’s sales in China decreased by 1.2% on year-on-year basis, which has never happened before.

"The key reason of Honda’s rise this year lies in the good performance of new models, especially that of compact SUV like Vezel and XR-V,” declared Kuraishi Seiji, Chief Executive Officer of Honda in China. “Reviving of Japanese automotive enterprises took place in last year, leading to that it would be a tough job for them to make progress this year,” explained Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of CPCA.

Nevertheless, Japanese automotive enterprises including Honda still want to make breakthrough through launching new models. “In the following three years, Toyota will launch 8 new models customized for China’s market,” declared Kuraishi Seiji. Greiz of Dongfeng Honda will come into market within this year while the fourth-generation Civic will be launched next year. Meanwhile, Guangqi Honda will launch mid-time modified models of Elysion, Accord, and Crider. Last month, Toyota launched dual-engine Corolla produced by FAW Toyota and dual-engine Levin Hew produced by GAC Toyota. Besides, Dongfeng Nissan will also launch new models of Murano, Lannia, and Qashqai in the second half of this year.

According to some insiders, whether the strategy that Japanese automotive enterprises react to market change by means of launching and promoting new models can function or not remains to see.