Shanghai (ZXZC)- For the year of 2021, Toyota Motor outperformed the other three Japanese automakers by China sales volume, and was the only one scoring year-on-year (YoY) growth for China's sales. 

In terms of Dec. performance, Toyota Motor was still the unique one whose China sales were more than that of the year-ago period. Partly affected by the chip supply constraint, Honda Motor, Nissan Motor, and Mazda Motor all posted double-digit decrease in China sales.

Despite the four straight months of YoY dip between Aug. and Nov., Toyota Motor still closed the year with an upward movement thanks to the robust growth achieved in the first half of 2021 and Dec. The Japanese automaker's annual sales in the world's largest auto market have reached another record high for the ninth year in a row.

The data given by two joint ventures show that Toyota Motor not only attained sales increase for existing key models, but also saw its new products well received by consumers.

For instance, GAC Toyota said the annual sales of the Camry and the Wildlander stood at 217,724 units and 130,880 units, jumping 17% and 76% YoY respectively. Meanwhile, a total of 229,859 Levins were sold through 2021. FAW-Toyota noted the yearly sales of the RAV4 family shot up 117% YoY to 203,410 units.

Sienna; photo credit: GAC Toyota

Regarding the performance of new models, GAC Toyota announced a wholesales volume of 2,791 units in Dec. for its flagship MPV Sienna. FAW-Toyota's Kluger and Harrier, both of which hit the market in the second half of last year, logged cumulative sales of 25,173 units and 7,929 units respectively.

Last month, FAW-Toyota started presale of the China-made Corolla Cross SUV, while GAC Toyota began selling the Levin’s upgrade version, the 2022 Levin. The former has a sister model produced by GAC Toyota, namely, the Frontlander, which hit the market earlier this month.

Due to eight consecutive months of YoY decline, Honda Motor witnessed its China retail sales in 2021 dwindle 4%. Two joint ventures, GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda, faced 4.7% and 3.3% YoY drop in annual sales respectively.

In spite of the downturn in total China sales, the annual sales of the vehicles armed with the hybrid powertrain system “Sport Hybrid” still hit all-time highs of 233,801 units last year, which were 116% more than that of the year-ago period.

CR-V; photo credit: Honda Motor

Honda Motor said a total of six models recorded over 150,000 units in 2021 retail sales. Notably, the CR-V was honored the best-selling one with over 200,000 vehicles sold annually.

Honda Motor also had several new models going on sale last month, including GAC Honda’s Integra, new Odyssey, and Dongfeng Honda’s new Elysion.

Nissan Motor said its China retail sales in 2021 amounted to 1,381,494 units, sliding 5.2% year on year because of the external factors like the coronavirus pandemic and the scarcity of cross-industry raw materials.

Dongfeng Nissan, the passenger vehicle business unit of the joint venture Dongfeng Motor Company Limited (DFL), saw its annual retail sales slide 6.4% to 1,134,889 units, 1,047,073 units and 87,816 units (+11.6% YoY) of which were under Nissan and Venucia brands respectively.

Seven-generation ALTIMA; photo credit: Dongfeng Nissan

As for the bright spots of main models, the annual retail sales of the seven-generation ALTIMA hit new highs of 163,741 units, leaping 38.7% from a year earlier. With 161,152 units sold, the Qashqai had a 2.2% YoY growth in 2021 sales.

Among the four Japanese carmakers, Mazda Motor posted the steepest YoY decline in both Dec. and 2021 China retail sales. As of Dec. 2021, the company's China business had suffered YoY decrease for nine straight months.

Mazda3 Axela; photo credit: Mazda China

With 88,291 units retailed last year, the Mazda3 Axela was credited the hottest-selling Mazda-branded model in China. Meanwhile, the company also sold 47,247 CX-4s and 33,441 CX-5s in the country.