The three major Japanese automakers, namely, Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, and Nissan Motor all encountered a double-digit decline in their March sales for the Chinese market compared to the same period last year.

In February this year, Toyota Motor saw the first positive year-on-year growth in sales after four months of decline in the world's largest auto market. However, the momentum was not kept in March, with Toyota Motor seeing its hard-earned growth in sales dropped to -18.5%.

Meanwhile, both Honda Motor and Nissan Motor continued to struggle with their sales downturn in March, making last month the respective seventh and eighth consecutive month for the two companies to suffer a year-on-year plunge in monthly sales in the Chinese market.

In the past month, Toyota Motor sold 136,400 vehicles in China. Despite the year-on-year slip, the automaker's sales in March were actually 5.25% higher than that of February. Toyota Motor's cumulative sales volume in the first quarter of this year amounted to 379,800 vehicles, down 14.6% from a year ago.

Among the Japanese automaker's two Sino joint ventures, GAC Toyota posted a 31.1% year-on-year decrease in March sales, while FAW-Toyota achieved a 7.2% year-on-year hike. March sales of the automaker's premium brand, Lexus, fell 44.1% from the year-ago period.

On the other hand, Honda Motor sold 82,041 vehicles in China in the past month, representing a 18.8% drop compared to a year ago. In the first quarter of the year, the automaker's total sales volume reached 220,367 vehicles, plunging 37.7% year over year. Judging from the numbers in this year alone, Honda Motor's sales also demonstrated an upward movement. 

In terms of the performance of the automaker's two joint ventures, GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda, a respective 22.1% and 15.1% decline challenged the two companies' March sales, which came in at 41,813 units and 40,228 units.

Nissan Motor's China sales performance in March faced a year-on-year decrease of 25.3% and a month-over-month slip of 9.26%, with 54,443 units sold across both its passenger and light commercial vehicle segments. 

Photo credit: Nissan Motor

For the first three months of this year, the automaker reported a cumulative sales volume of 161,961 units in China, representing a drop of 36.8% from a year ago. Specifically, Dongfeng Motor Co. & Ltd. (DFL), the joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Group and Nissan Motor, sold 151,467 vehicles (including Nissan, Venucia, and Infiniti brands), while the company's light commercial vehicle business (Zhengzhou Nissan) achieved a rise of 7.6% in sales year on year with an impressive 10,494 vehicles sold.

In response to the challenging sales figures, Shohei Yamazaki, Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Co. and Chairperson of Nissan Management Committee in China, announced the company's plan to roll out multiple new models with advanced technology in China, aiming to meet the diverse needs of Chinese consumers.