Honda outsells Toyota in China in October

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Last month, the four Japanese automakers—Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Nissan Motor, and Mazda Motor—still recorded two-digit year-on-year decrease in their China sales as automobile production were limited by the chip shortage. However, except Mazda Motor, the other three all boasted growth compared to the previous month.

Toyota still topped the other Japanese automakers by selling 1,542,600 new vehicles in China during the first ten months, whereas it was outperformed by Honda Motor in terms of Oct. sales.

Levin; photo credit: GAC Toyota

The global chip shortage compelled Toyota to halt production at 27 lines in 14 Japan-based plants last month, according to the data from the company's website. In China, production schedule is also being continuously adjusted based on the chip supply situation. Due to the industry-wide issue, its main joint venture in China, GAC Toyota, recorded a 15.77% year-on-year drop in Oct. outputs, which stood at 61,286 units, according to GAC Group's announcement.

11th-generation Civic; photo credit: Dongfeng Honda

Honda Motor said its China retail sales in Oct. fell 17.9% over a year earlier due to the auto parts supply constraints as well, while grew month on month for two straight months.

The year-on-year downturn should be more blamed on the decrease in GAC Honda's Oct. retail sales. The joint venture with GAC Group faced a 25.8% decline with 70,629 vehicles sold. The other joint venture Dongfeng Honda logged a 9.1% drop year-over-year.

14th-generation Sylphy; photo credit: Dongfeng Nissan

Nissan's China retail sales in Oct. amounted to 113,876 units, sliding 22% year on year. The automaker attributed the decline to external headwind including the coronavirus pandemic, cross-shortage of raw materials, and economic slowdown. Nonetheless, the Oct. sales were 9,433 units more than the Sept. volume.

Dongfeng Nissan, the passenger vehicle business unit of the joint venture Dongfeng Motor Company Limited (DFL), saw its Oct. retail sales dwindle 23.3% to 95,314 units, 85,296 units and 10,018 units of which were under Nissan and Venucia brands respectively.

Mazda3 Axela; photo credit: Changan Mazda

Mazda's China retail volume tumbled 22.3% from the year-ago period in October, representing downward movement for seven consecutive months.

Among the four Japanese automakers, Mazda was the only one that recorded decrease in terms of year-to-date sales.