Toyota, Nissan, Mazda gain 2020’s first growth in China deliveries

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In April, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda all recorded growth in China auto retail sales, their first monthly increases since the novel coronavirus erupted in January.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China auto sales in April also increased for the first time for the past 22 months.

Some observers regard it as an indication of positive return of auto sales, while some see the April growth as merely reflecting the pent-up demands from consumers who cannot buy cars due to the coronavirus lockdown in the first quarter.

Toyota posts 0.2% growth in China deliveries

Toyota announced last week that it delivered 142,900 vehicles in April in China, an increase of 0.2% from the same month last year.

Based on the previous data collected by Gasgoo, the Jan.-Apr. retail sales stood at 413,800 units.

Two joint ventures reported manifest growth in April wholesales. FAW-Toyota sold 71,771 vehicles, a 9% upward movement from a year ago. With 56,391 units sold, the TNGA-based models accounted for 79% of the total sales. The main sales contributor Corolla had a wholesale volume of 31,285 units.

(Highlander, photo source: GAC Honda)

GAC Toyota said it gained a 47% year-on-year surge in April wholesales. Among 63,607 vehicles sold last month, 15,459 units (+10%) were the Camry sedans, and 7,333 units came from the Highlander SUVs.

The premium auto brand Lexus saw its China sales rise 6% over the year-ago period to 23,150 units, of which 8,238 units were from its hybrid model lineup.

Honda sees China retail sales rise 10%

In April, Honda recorded year-on-year decrease of 10% in auto sales in China, while gained an impressive growth of 88% compared to March.

The automaker announced that it delivered 113,430 vehicles in April in the country, which made the year-to-date volume total 335,414 units, sliding 27% from the year-ago period.

(Breeze, photo source: GAC Honda)

With 58,401 vehicles delivered, GAC Honda clocked a year-on-year drop of 11% last month. Its Jan.-Apr. deliveries slumped 29% to 174,749 units.

The joint venture with GAC Group said its vehicle wholesale volume edged up 2% to 71,730 units in April. There were four models whose sales exceeded 10,000 units, namely, the Accord (18,912 units), the Crider (12,692 units), the Vezel (12,379 units) and the Breeze (11,012 units). Besides, the automaker also sold 5,340 Avancier SUVs and 3,636 Odyssey MPVs.

Dongfeng Honda witnessed its year-to-date deliveries tumble 25% to 160,665 units, of which 55,029 units were delivered in April, a year-on-year decline of 8%.

As of April, the Japanese company only achieved 21.6% of the 1.55 million-unit annual sales target it set for China market, but it has not lowered the goal even though the virus impact will continue for some time.

Nissan's China branch gains 1.1% sales increase

Nissan's China business units delivered 122,846 vehicles (including imported vehicles) in April, representing a slight year-over-year growth of 1.1%.

Retail sales of its PV (passenger vehicle) and LCV (light commercial vehicle) arms grew 0.4% and 6.8% respectively to 97,401 units and 23,003 units last month.

(Sylphy, photo source: Dongfeng Nissan)

Within the PV unit, Dongfeng Nissan handed over 92,394 vehicles with a 4.9% growth. The core sales contributors were the Sylphy and the seven-generation ALTIMA.

Besides, 5,007 consumers took delivery of Dongfeng Venucia's vehicles in April.

Retailing 329,397 units in China, Nissan posted a 29.2% year-on-year decrease for the first four months, 10.7 percentage points lower than the drop in Q1 sales.

Mazda's China deliveries edge up 1%

Mazda boasted a year-on-year growth of 1% in its China retail sales for the month of April thanks to the obvious increase achieved by the joint venture FAW-Mazda.

Last month, a total of 17,091 consumers in China took delivery of Mazda's vehicles, said Mazda Motor (China) Co., Ltd. For the Jan.-Apr. period, the automaker saw its China deliveries still slump 23% to 53,442 units.

(Mazda6 Atenza, photo source: FAW-Mazda)

Retailing 7,071 new vehicles, FAW-Mazda achieved a year-on-year growth of 10.8% in April. Its year-to-date deliveries fell 18.7% to 21,177 units.

As for specific products, the deliveries of the Mazda 6 Atenza and the CX-4 reached 3,095 units and 3,976 units in April respectively. The Jan.-Apr. volumes for them were 10,036 units and 11,141 units.

The year-to-date retail sales of Changan Mazda fell 25.5% from a year ago to 32,265 units, while the decrease in April sales was contracted to 4.9%.

With 6,844 units delivered, the Mazda 3 Axela developed by Changan Mazda was still the best-seller in April. From Jan. to Apr., the sales of the well-received model aggregated 24,170 units.