Shanghai (ZXZC)- Four major Japanese automakers have released their China market's sales performance in the so-called “golden September”, the traditional peak season for car sales in this country.

Toyota and Honda boasted year-on-year increase in both Sept. and year-to-date sales, by contrast, Nissan and Mazda failed to outperform that of a year ago. Nevertheless, some bright spots still deserve our highlight.

Toyota: Lexus' sales grow despite price increase

With around 143,100 vehicles delivered, Toyota achieved its best-ever Sept. sales figure in China. Compared with the year-ago period, the Japanese automaker gained a slight growth of 1.6%, versus 3.8% year-on-year decrease in August sales.

Last month, the sales volume of the Corolla slumped 18.2% to roughly 26,500 units due to consumers' wait-to-see attitude towards the performance of the all-new Corolla. Besides, the strong demand for such mainstay sedan models as the Avalon and the Camry still boosted the total auto sales.

（Photo source: Lexus)

The premium brand Lexus saw its China sales rise 10.2% year on year to 17,736 units in September, making the year-to-date sales total 144,590 units with a remarkable growth of 22.8%.

The premium carmaker announced in September the decision to lift prices of several main models, using the excuse that “multimedia and safety systems have been updated”. It is evident that Lexus felt little impact from the price rise move, even though it got complaints for that.

Honda: both Accord and Civic's Sept. deliveries surpass 20,000 units

Honda delivered 138,056 new vehicles in China in September, gaining a year-on-year increase 4%.

Both two joint ventures in this country achieved growth compared with the year-ago period. GAC Honda's Sept. sales edged up 1% to 65,534 units, and Dongfeng Honda saw its sales climb 6.8% to 72,522 units.

（Photo source: Honda China)

For the first three quarters, the Japanese automaker handed over 1,123,570 vehicles to consumers in China, a notable year-on-year growth of 16.4%, in spite of an overall downturn taking place in current China's auto market.

GAC Honda's year-to-date deliveries rose 8.8% from a year ago to 561,148 units. In addition, Dongfeng Honda obtained a double-digit growth of 25.2% with 562,422 vehicles delivered through September.

The respective deliveries of the Civic and the Accord exceeded 20,000 units in September, said Honda. In addition, deliveries of the Sport Hybrid-powered Accord, Odyssey, CR-V, Inspire and Elysion totaled 13,270 units.

Nissan: Dongfeng Nissan obtains best-ever Jan.-Sept. sales

Nissan said its China sales for the first three quarters totaled 1,090,983 units, edging down 0.4%, while still outpacing the overall auto market.

The passenger vehicle business arm—Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Venucia—sold 905,193 units through September, facing a slight drop of 1%. Of that, Dongfeng Nissan, selling 818,199 vehicles, achieving its highest-ever Jan.-Sept. sales volume.

In addition, the light commercial vehicle business—Dongfeng Automobile Co.,Ltd (DFAC) and Zhengzhou Nissan—in the past nine months sold 158,050 vehicles, posting an increase of 5.4% from a year earlier.

（Photo source: Nissan China)

As for Sept. performance, Nissan saw its China sales slide 4.6% to 134,713 units. Although Dongfeng Nissan (including imported Nissan-branded models)’s sales dropped 4.1% to 103,021 units, several models still recorded impressive growth. Sales volume of the LANNIA and the TIIDA reached 4,859 units and 7,213 units, surging 25.5% and 25.1% over a year ago respectively. Moreover, 4,103 units of the Kicks and 18,328 units of the Qashqai were sold last month, the best-ever Sept. figure for both models.

Dongfeng Venucia's sales edged up 1.1% year on year to 10,218 units thanks to the robust growth in D60's sales.

Mazda: FAW Mazda achieves double-digit growth in Sept.

In September, 2019, Mazda delivered 20,619 vehicles in China, a year-on-year drop of 5.9%, according to the figures offered by Mazda Motor (China) Co., Ltd.

(Photo source: FAW Mazda)

Two joint ventures in China displayed oppositely in sales growth. The automaker said FAW Mazda's and Changan Mazda's retail sales reached 9,517 units and 11,110 units respectively. Based on the data for the year-ago period, we found out that the former gained an impressive growth of 16.8%, while the latter saw its deliveries fall roughly 19.3%.

For the first nine months, 161,742 consumers in China took delivery of Mazda's vehicles, shrinking 23.2% over a year earlier. Of that, FAW Mazda sold 63,451 vehicles (-24.8%) and Changan Mazda contributed 98,291 vehicles to the sales with a year-on-year decline of 22.2%.

With 7,824 vehicles delivered in September, the Mazda3 Axela was the best-seller. Besides, the deliveries of the Mazda6 Atenza, the CX-4 and the CX-5 were 4,092 units, 5,425 units and 3,111 units.