Toyota, Honda score double-digit YoY growth in Aug. China sales

In the eighth month of 2022, both Honda Motor and Toyota Motor celebrated substantial year-on-year surge in their monthly sales volume achieved in China, while Nissan Motor reported a year-over-year decline. 

The continuous year-on-year downturn in cumulative China sales volume that challenged the three major Japanese automakers in China has been improved as of August. All three companies saw graduate improvement in their year-to-date sales volume in the world’s largest auto market, with Toyota and Honda almost caught up with their year-ago sales performance, but Nissan still had a long way to go. 

Toyota Motor sold 188,200 new vehicles in China in August, representing a 30.0% jump from a year earlier. The recovery from the impact of the coronavirus continued, with its sales growth accelerating from the previous month, according to the Japanese media outlet, Kyodo. 

Toyota Motor has posted year-on-year increase in China sales for three straight months. The robust sales of its Corolla sedan and favorable SUVs are parts of the factors that contributed to the company’s bounce back, so as the tax reductions issued by the Chinese government on car purchases. However, Lexus, the premium auto brand of the group, continued to struggle with a 3.3% decline in August sales compared to a year ago. 

In August, Honda Motor sold 136,530 vehicles in China, which surged 48.9% from a year earlier and climbed up 2.2% from the previous month. Like Toyota, Honda also achieved a year-on-year increase in its China sales for three straight months. 

As for the sales of the company’s two Sino joint ventures, GAC Honda saw its August sales leapt 30.9% over a year ago to 68,638 units, while Dongfeng Honda scored a remarkable 73% year-on-year spike by selling 67,892 vehicles last month. 

The monthly sales surge was mainly driven by the Accord sedan while the company’s hybrid vehicles were also of hot demands in China. 

In the past month, Nissan Motor sold 99,570 vehicles in China, indicating a 12.0% decline year over year. Its passenger vehicle joint venture, Dongfeng Motor Co. & Ltd. (DFL), sold 88,133 vehicles (including Nissan, Venucia, and Infiniti brands), representing an 8.9% slip compared to the same period in 2021, but up 1.9% over the previous month. 

To be specific, the Nissan brand sold 80,006 vehicles last month, moving up 5.26% from July. In the meantime, the Venucia brand sold 7,637 vehicles, representing a 31.5% jump from the year-ago period.

From January to August, the cumulative sales volume of DFL summed up to 623,413 vehicles, down 17.2% year on year. 

Additionally, Nissan Motor sold 11,437 light trucks in August in the Chinese market, a 30.4% decline from the previous year.