"Sales in China by Japan's biggest auto makers surged last month, one year after a territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo slammed their sales in the world's largest auto market.
The year-over-year September sales gains disclosed on Tuesday by Toyota Motor Corp,Honda
Mortor Corp and Nissan Motor Corp. in part reflected weakness in the year-earlier month—all three reported declines of greater than 30% in September 2012. It was the first time in the past 12 months that all three Japanese car makers reported significant year-over-year growth that wasn't caused by seasonality or unusual circumstances.
The year-over-year September sales gains disclosed on Tuesday by Toyota Motor Corp,Honda
Mortor Corp and Nissan Motor Corp. in part reflected weakness in the year-earlier month—all three reported declines of greater than 30% in September 2012. It was the first time in the past 12 months that all three Japanese car makers reported significant year-over-year growth that wasn't caused by seasonality or unusual circumstances.
Nissan said its September sales in the country rose 83% to 117,100 vehicles. Toyota, the world's largest car maker by sales, said it sold 72,100 cars, up 63% from a year earlier, while Honda said its car sales in China more than doubled to 73,990 units.
Nissan, which is the top Japanese brand by sales in China, said it aims to sell 1.25 million vehicles in China this year, a 6% increase compared with the 1.18 million vehicles it sold last year.
"Sales volumes of Japanese car makers are restoring to the normal level. Given the low base in the fourth quarter of 2012, I think the situation will continue in the coming months," said John Zeng , a managing director at consulting firm LMC Automotive.
Still, the recovery is slow due to fierce competition, he said. "There are no signs that the island dispute will come to an end soon," he said. "As long as the tension exists, Japanese car makers will remain conservative in China. Meanwhile German and U.S. are revving up investment, putting more pressure on the Japanese."
"The market shares of Japanese car companies had begun to decline even before the island dispute. In 2007, they accounted for 28% of cars sold in China. By 2010, that share had fallen to 23%, according to estimates by consulting firm Deloitte based on data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers".
Source: The Wall Street Journal
