In the fourth month of 2023, the three Japanese automakers, namely Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, and Honda Motor all saw their year-on-year sales plunge narrowed from the previous months in the world’s largest auto market, with Toyota posting a double-digit year-on-year surge.

On the other hand, the three companies all failed to turn their respective year-on-year slump in their Jan.-Apr. sales volume positive. Among the trio, Nissan encountered the most severe year-to-date sales decline from a year earlier at 39.3%, with 223,274 vehicles sold in total.

Notably, China’s auto market stayed at a relatively low level under external influences such as the pandemic and the cramped supply of raw materials in April 2022. Hence, the automakers’ overall year-on-year performance in April this year were not applicable to comparison. 

Individually, during the past month, Toyota sold 162,600 vehicles in China, representing a 46.3% surge from a year ago, according to data provided by Kyodo. In the first four months of 2023, April marked the second month for Toyota to see a positive growth in monthly sales compared to the year-ago level. 

In the Jan.-Apr. period, Toyota’s cumulative sales volume in China amounted to 542,400 vehicles, which still fell 2.4% from that of a year ago despite the surge in April. 

In the past month, Honda Motor’s China monthly sales reached 94,879 vehicles, edging down 0.4% year over year while climbing 13.53% from the previous month. In spite of the month-on-month growth, April was the only month this year where Honda witnessed its monthly sales almost caught up with its year-ago level. 

Photo credit: Dongfeng Honda

Notably, sales of one of its two joint ventures in the country, GAC Honda, amounted to 60,498 in April, jumping 40.9% from a year ago. Whereas, the automaker’s other joint venture, Dongfeng Honda, saw its April sales fell 34.2% to 34,381 units.

Last but not least, Nissan Motor posted a 12.6% increase in April China sales compared to the previous month, which the automaker boasted as a sign of recovery in sales performance. In the meantime, due to the low base number in the year-ago results, the company’s year-on-year difference in April China sales was also narrowed.

In the past month, Dongfeng Motor Co. & Ltd. (DFL), the joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Group and Nissan Motor, sold 57,545 vehicles (including Nissan, Venucia, and Infiniti brands), which hiked 17.1% from the previous month. Notably, among the passenger vehicles sold in the past month, 52,510 units were Nissan-branded, jumping 24.9% from that of March.

Meanwhile, the company's light commercial vehicle joint venture, Zhengzhou Nissan, recorded a monthly sales volume of 3,768 vehicles in April.