In January 2022, the four Japanese automakers, Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Nissan Motor, and Mazda Motor—all logged year-on-year decrease in their China auto retail sales as car outputs were whittled down by the chip supply constraint and the COVID-19 cases.

Although Toyota Motor still outsold others, it faced the biggest year-on-year decline. The sliding performance was mainly due to the clusters of coronavirus infections in Tianjin, where its main plant is located.

The operations at Toyota's joint-venture factory in Tianjin were halted from Jan. 10 to 21 because of the impact of compulsory COVID-19 testing of city residents.

ALLION; photo credit: FAW-Toyota

According to Nikkei's report, the sales of FAW-Toyota plunged 46% over a year earlier to about 41,000 units in Jan. 2022, while GAC Toyota still scored a slight growth of 0.8% with 87,500 vehicles sold.

Besides, the premium auto brand Lexus saw its China sales drop 27.9% from the year-ago period to 17,500 units last month due to the impact of component shortage.

ACCORD; photo credit: GAC Honda

Honda Motor Company said its monthly China auto retail sales amounted to 146,641 units in Jan. 2022, sliding 6.9% from the year-ago period. The downturn entirely flew from the decrease in Dongfeng Honda's sales, which tumbled 26% year on year.

Nevertheless, GAC Honda still achieved an 18.8% increase year-over-year despite the decline in overall sales. The joint venture put two new products, the INTEGRA and the new Odyssey, onto the market in Dec. 2021, which served as new sales drivers.

14th-generation Sylphy; photo credit: Dongfeng Nissan

Nissan's China retail sales in Jan. amounted to 133,467 units, dipping 8.7% year on year.

Dongfeng Nissan, the passenger vehicle business unit of the joint venture Dongfeng Motor Company Limited (DFL), saw its Jan. retail sales dwindle 11.4% to 111,333 units, 100,018 and 10,008 units of which were under Nissan and Venucia brands respectively.

Notably, Infiniti has been under the management of DFL since January. According to Nissan's sales results, the premium brand’s China sales were around 1,300 units in January. 

As to key models, the sales of the seven-generation ALTIMA and the Qashqai jumped 19.1% and 25.4% year over year respectively to 18,739 and 20,486 units in Jan. 2022. Meanwhile, the sales of the Sylphy series reached 49,982 units.

Mazda3 Axela; photo credit: Changan Mazda

Mazda's China retail volume fell 7% from the year-ago period last month, representing downward movement for 10 consecutive months. Its best-selling model of the month was still the Mazda3 Axela, with 11,413 vehicles sold. The company also announced 3,372 units and 1,862 units of Jan. sales volume for the Mazda CX-5 and CX-30 respectively.