Shanghai (ZXZC)- Four major Japanese automakers have released their China sales in April. Toyota and Honda accomplished growth compared with the same period a year ago, while Nissan and Mazda recorded decrease. Toyota still outsold Honda and Nissan, taking the championship in terms of both Apr. sales and year-to-date (YTD) sales.  

Toyota

Toyota saw its China sales in April jump 19.9% from the previous year to 142,600 units, hitting a new high in April sales for this country.

According to the previous sales numbers complied by ZXZC, the Japanese automaker has delivered over 490,000 vehicles through April in the world’s largest auto market.

Last month, the premium car brand Lexus posted a year-on-year surge of 46.9% with 21,839 vehicles sold in China. Sales of the hotter-selling ES reached 10,629 units, exceeding 10,000 units on a monthly basis for the first time. 

The Avalon, a mid-sized sedan launched by FAW-Toyota, hit the market in late March with prices ranging from RMB20,888 to RMB289,800. The automaker is ready to roll out several new models, including the all-new Corolla, the all-new Levin and the Toyota RAVA, for its China’s market in the second half of the year in a bid to further strengthen its product competitiveness.  

Honda

Honda said it achieved its highest-ever April sales in China with a total of 125,407 units (+24.1%) vehicles delivered.

Meanwhile, both joint ventures attained their best April deliveries (so far). GAC Honda delivered 65,813 vehicles with a double-digit growth of 23.8%, while Dongfeng Honda gained an increase of 24.5%, handing over 59,594 new cars.

For the first four months, Honda’s China sales showed a year-on-year growth of 14.6%. The year-to-date (YTD) sales of GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda rose 9.6% and 21.1% respectively to 246,623 units and 213,918 units.

The company said six models—the Accord, the Civic, the CR-V, the Fit, the XR-V and the Crider—had respective monthly deliveries exceeding 10,000 units. The sales of the CR-V Hybrid surged 56.9% from the previous year to 2,640 units. Additionally, the Accord Hybrid, with 2,267 units delivered last month, attained a remarkable growth of 30%. 

Nissan

Nissan’s China sales in April edged down 2.9% over the year-ago period. However, the year-to-date sales (465,302 units) still revealed a slight growth of 0.9%.

It PV business arm Dongfeng Motor Company Limited (including Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Venucia) sold 97,056 vehicles (-5.9%) last month and a total of 381,116 vehicles (-1.3%) through April.

Dongfeng Nissan hit a new-high in Jan.-Apr. sales (339,030 units), while its Apr. sales declined 3.8% from the year-ago period to 88,044 units. The sales of Dongfeng Venucia-branded vehicles totaled 42,086 units for the first four months, among which the April sales were 9,012 units.

In April, Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. and Zhengzhou Nissan—sold a total of 21,537 vehicles (+15.9%). From January to April, sales of the two light commercial vehicle business arms aggregated 73,960 units with an apparent growth of 16.9%.

There are four models whose sales climbed significantly in April—the X-TRAIL (19,704 units, +26.5%), the TIIDA (6,731 units, +34.1%), the LANNIA (4,013 units, +16%) and the Terra (1,157 units, +98.8%). Meanwhile, the Nissan Sylphy and the Qashqai, with 33,441 units and 10,672 units sold respectively, also made important contributions to the whole monthly sales.  

Mazda

Mazda faced a substantial year-on-year drop of 31.2% in April retail sales for its Chinese market. Last month, it delivered 16,919 vehicles in this country, the Japanese automaker announced on May 7.

Both two joint ventures posted negative growth in monthly sales. The April sales of FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda reached 6,379 units and 10,540 units, slumping 34.96% and 28.61% from the year-ago period.

For the first four months, Mazda witnessed its China deliveries plunge 31.99% over a year ago to 69,385 units, among which FAW Mazda and Changan Mazda’s respective sales were 26,061 units (-37.13%) and 43,324 units (-28.48%).