Summary of top 4 Japanese automakers’ sales in July for Chinese market

Among the top 4 Japanese automakers, Mazda was the only one that suffered decrease in number of vehicles delivered in July for its Chinese market. Both Toyota and Honda achieved their highest-ever July sales in China, while Nissan's deliveries basically remained the same as that of a year earlier.

Toyota

For the month of July, Toyota posted a year-on-year growth of 8.3% with 139,100 vehicles delivered across its Chinese market.

Up until now, the Japan's No.1 car manufacturer has sold roughly 909,000 vehicles in this country with a double-digit growth compared with a year ago, according to sales data of previous months collected by Gasgoo.  

Toyota aims to raise vehicle sales in China by 8% to 1.6 million this year, the Japanese automaker said in January. In light of the Jan.-Jul. performance, the sales mission continued to proceed at a balanced pace.

The carmaker sold 1.47 million vehicles in China last year, jumping 14.3% from 2017.

Lexus also maintained a robust growth momentum. For the first seven months, the premium car brand sold a total of 109,933 cars across China, an impressive increase of 31% from the previous year.

Year-to-date sales of hybrid models surged 43% over the prior-year to 37,518 units, accounting for 34% of total Lexus's China sales.

Besides, average sales of the hottest-selling Lexus ES almost reached 9,000 units on a monthly basis, said Lexus. 

Honda

Honda said the number of deliveries in China rose 9.4% year on year in July to 115,950 units, the best-ever figure in terms of July sales for the world's largest auto market.

Both two joint ventures in China achieved their highest-ever July deliveries as well. GAC Honda saw monthly deliveries edge up 1.7% from the previous year to 55,560 units, while Dongfeng Honda handed over 60,390 units with a double-digit growth of 17.6%.

For the first seven months of the year, Honda's China deliveries totaled 861,359 units, jumping 20.5% over the year-ago period. Of that, GAC Honda posted a 11.2% year-on-year increase with 436,165 vehicles handed over, while Dongfeng Honda, delivering 425,194 cars, boasted a remarkable growth of 31.7%.

Four models, including the Civic, the CR-V, the Accord and the Crider, got respective deliveries in July exceeding 10,000 units. Particularly, monthly deliveries of the Civic surpassed 20,000 units. Hybrid versions of the Accord, the Odyssey, the CR-V and the Inspire, with 9,446 units delivered in total, presented the popularity of hybrid powertrain technologies.

Nissan

In July, Nissan's retail sales in China edged up 1.4% year over year to 108,343 units.

Its passenger vehicle (PV) sector, including Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Venucia, saw the July deliveries grow 3.2% to 91,108 units.

Of that, Dongfeng Nissan, together with imported Nissan-branded vehicles, sported a 3.5% year-on-year growth with sales reaching 83,055 units in July. Dongfeng Venucia, with 8,053 vehicles sold, also gained a slight growth of 0.4%.

Dongfeng Nissan's performance in July was mainly boosted by the Nissan X-Trail (15,800 units, +16.8%), the Qashqai (14,766 units, +12.3%), the Tiida (4,967 units, +17.3%), the Kicks (3,768 units, +78.8%), the Murano (2,047 units, +17.0%).

The new Nissan Altima, launched at the end of 2018, turned in deliveries of 8,429 vehicles in July. Combined sales of Nissan SUVs (including the Nissan Murano, X-Trail, Qashqai, Kicks and Terra) jumped 17.1% from a year earlier to 37,009 vehicles.

Nissan said it has received orders for over 12,000 units of the 14th-generation Sylphy within 15 days since the all-new model hit the market in middle July.

Nissan's light commercial vehicle (LCV) business in China, including Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. and Zhengzhou Nissan, chalked up a 5.1% drop from the year-ago period to 14,208 units.

Year-to-date retail sales for Nissan's China market remained flat year on year to 826,611 units, among which PV sales were down by 1.1% to 683,418 units, while CV sales climbed 8.9% to 123,178 units.

Mazda

Mazda delivered 17,051 vehicles in China last month, sliding 17.2% compared with 20,597 vehicles delivered in the same period a year ago, according to Mazda Motor (China) Co., Ltd.

In July, retail sales of two joint ventures in China—FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda—reached 6,539 units and 10,512 units respectively, the automaker said.

Although the carmaker didn't release the sales growth rate of two joint ventures, Gasgoo got the results based on last year’s data that FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda posted year-on-year decline of 18.9% and 16.2% respectively in July sales.

The Japan-based automaker witnessed its Jan.-Jul. sales in China slump 25.9% over the previous year to 123,396 units.

Of that, year-to-date sales of FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda sharply fell 31.2% and 22.3% from the year-ago period respectively to 46,218 units and 77,178 units.

The Mazda 3 Axela should be the best seller with its deliveries in China amounting to 7,272 units in July and totaling 53,497 units during the first seven months.