Shanghai (ZXZC)- In September, the traditional selling season in China for car shopping, four major Japanese automakers all gained sales growth compared to the same period a year ago. Notably, both Toyota and Honda posted double-digit growth in China sales, and outpaced the country’s overall auto market.

Let's review the bright spots of their Sept. China sales.

Toyota's China unit achieves all-time high monthly sales in Sept.

Toyota's China monthly sales hit a record high of 179,400 vehicles in September, which were 25.3% more than that of the year ago period, according to Nikkei's report.

As of September, Toyota's China business had gained year-on-year sales growth for sixth month in a row. The incessant increase made the automaker obtain a blooming growth of 6.9% with 1,262,400 vehicles sold around the country so far this year.

Levin; photo source: GAC Toyota

Key models contributed a lot to the overall robust growth. In September, the sales of the Corolla surged 41.3% from the previous year to roughly 37,400 units, while the Levin had a sales volume of 22,700 units with a growth of 5%, according to the report.

Lexus saw its China sales jump 13.3% from a year earlier to 20,090 units, including 7,464 electrified vehicles. In terms of the year-to-date performance, the Toyota-owned premium brand sold 158,439 vehicles (+9.6% YoY) in the country, 37.8% of which were electrified products.

Although analysts are lukewarm about this year's China auto sales, Toyota still aims to achieve an 8.6% year-on-year increase in 2020 by selling 1.76 million units (including Lexus' vehicles) in the world's biggest auto market. During the first nine months, the automaker has completed 72% of the goal.

Honda achieves all-time high September deliveries in China

Honda said its China retail sales volume leapt 22.3% from a year earlier to 168,872 units last month, which was also the best-ever Sept. sales the company has by far gained.

For the first nine months of 2020, Honda's automobile deliveries in China slid 5.1% year on year to 1,066,161 units, versus the 9% decrease in the Jan.-Aug. volume.

Civic; photo source: Dongfeng Honda

Both GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda attained double-digit growth in Sept. sales. To be specific, GAC Honda delivered 81,669 vehicles, a year-on-year jump of 24.6%. As of the year-to-date performance, the joint venture obtained a 4.3% decline from a year ago by selling 1,066,161 vehicles.

There were 87,203 consumers in China taking delivery of the vehicles produced by Dongfeng Honda, representing a robust increase of 20.2% over the previous year. Its Jan.-Sept. deliveries amounted to 529,130 units, falling 5.9% over a year ago.

With regard to detailed products, the respective deliveries of seven models—the Accord, the Vezel, the Breeze, the Crider, the Civic, the CR-V and the XR-V—all exceeded 10,000 units last month. Three of them—the Accord, the Civic and the CR-V—had delivery volume topping 20,000 units.

Nissan records 5.1% growth in Sept. China sales

Nissan's China sales climbed 5.1% year on year to 141,595 units (including imported vehicles) in September. For the first three quarters, the automaker sold 985,474 new vehicles in the world's biggest auto market, a year-on-year decrease of 9.7%, 2.1 percentage points lower than the drop in Jan.-Aug. sales.

In September, Nissan China's PV business unit achieved a 5.3% year-on-year growth by selling 119,235 vehicles. Dongfeng Nissan’s sales grew 8.7% from a year earlier to 112,029 units, its highest-ever figure in terms of Sept. sales volume.

Altima; photo source: Dongfeng Nissan

Both sedan and SUV sales continued to grow for Dongfeng Nissan. Last month, the sales of the seven-generation Altima, the Sylphy and the Tiida reached 11,828 units (+14.3% YoY), 57,438 units (+51.4% YoY) and 6,236 units (+9.3% MoM) respectively. Notably, the Sylphy's sales hit a record high level regarding September volume.

The joint venture saw the Sept. sales of Nissan-branded SUVs edge up 2.3% month on month to 35,357 units, including 15,553 Qashqais (+10.6% MoM) and 15,168 X-Trails.

Light-duty commercial vehicle sales jumped 12.8% over the year-ago period to 19,880 units in September. The rising movement should be credited to the double-digit growth achieved by both Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. and Zhengzhou Nissan.

Mazda's China deliveries climb 1.5% YoY in Sept.

Mazda said its China deliveries in September stood at 20,922 units, edging up 1.5% from a year ago and jumping 20.7% from the previous months.

Both FAW-Mazda and Changan Mazda attained month-on-month growth in September. To be specific, Changan Mazda delivered 14,311 new vehicles, which grew 16.2% from a month ago, while FAW-Mazda's retail sales leapt to 6,611 units from 5,013 units in August. Compared to the year-ago level, Changan Mazda nabbed a robust 28.9% increase, while FAW-Mazda was hit by a 30.5% plunge.

Mazda3 Axela; Changan Mazda

For the first nine months, the Japanese automaker had handed over 153,329 vehicles to consumers in China, a year-over-year decline of 5.2%. The year-to-date deliveries of Changan Mazda and FAW-Mazda were 94,522 units and 58,807 units, falling 3.8% and 7.3% compared to the same period a year ago.

Compared to August, the retail volume of the Mazda3/Axela, the CX-4 and the CX-5 all showed growth in September. Versus the prior-year level, the deliveries of the Mazda3/Axela and the CX-5 climbed 10.5% and 5.1% respectively to 8,645 units and 3,269 units, while the CX-4 sales tumbled 27.2% to 3,952 units.