Toyota, Honda, Nissan face YoY downturn in H1 2023 China sales

In the first half of 2023, the three Japanese automakers, namely Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, and Honda Motor all failed to score a year-on-year growth in cumulative sales in the world’s largest auto market, China.

In the first six months of this year, a year-on-year decline challenged all three automakers regarding sales in China, with Toyota Motor posting the slightest drop. 

In June alone, the three automakers all encountered a double-digit plunge in monthly sales compared to that of a year ago. Some claimed that the withdrawal of the car purchase discount policy is still affecting the local market, with consumer demands recovering slowly, which holds an impact on the Japanese automakers’ performance in China. 

However, by contrast, Chinese automakers like BYD, Chery Holding, Geely, etc. all boasted prominent year-on-year jump in both June and Jan.-Jun. sales volume. BYD even scored a significant leap of 94.25% from the previous year with 1,255,637 vehicles sold in total during the first half of this year. 

Regarding performance of individual companies, during the past month, Toyota saw its monthly sales fall 12.8% year over year to 174,500 vehicles in China, according to data provided by Kyodo. This marked the company’s first year-on-year drop in sales after increasing for two straight months. Nonetheless, June also represents Toyota’s best performance in the Chinese market in 2023. 

Among the automaker’s two Sino joint ventures, FAW-Toyota posted a 23.1% decline in June sales from the previous year, while GAC Toyota’s monthly sales slipped 4.6%. According to Kyodo, June sales of Toyota’s high-end brand, Lexus, rose 7.4% from a year ago in China. 

In the past month, Honda Motor’s monthly sales achieved in the Chinese auto market reached 113,133 vehicles, growing 11.66% from the previous month but decreasing 19.8% from the earlier year. The automaker’s monthly sales performance continued to pick up month over month this year. May was the only month for Honda to achieve a positive difference in sales compared to a year ago. 

Inspire; photo credit: Dongfeng Honda

Notably, the automaker again didn’t reveal the sales breakdown of each joint venture. 

Last but not least, in June, Nissan Motor sold 69,139 vehicles in China, which edged up 4.6% from the previous month but plunged 28% from the previous year. 

In the sixth month of this year, the Japanese carmaker’s joint venture, Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan, Venucia, and INFINITI brands), saw its monthly sales stand at 64,794 vehicles, which climbed up 3.4% from a month ago but subsiding 29.47% year over year. 

At the same time, Nissan’s light commercial vehicle joint venture in China, Zhengzhou Nissan, recorded a monthly sales volume of 4,345 vehicles last month, representing a 5.9% growth from the earlier year and a 33.1% jump from the previous month.