In August 2023, the three major Japanese automakers, namely Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, and Nissan Motor, all failed to turnaround the continuous year-over-year downturn in their monthly China sales, with Nissan Motor witnessing the largest plummet. 

As the tax-cut policy last year still hold some impact to the market, it is generally believed that the weakening performance of the three Japanese auto giants in the world’s largest auto market is caused by the three companies’ lack of new energy vehicle competitiveness. 

In terms of the performance of each company, in August, Toyota Motor saw its monthly sales dip 6.6% year over year but rise 15.13% month on month to 175,800 vehicles in China, according to data provided by Japanese media Kyodo.

bZ4X; photo credit: Toyota

According to Kyodo, China sales of Toyota Motor’s luxury brand, Lexus, fell 8.9% year-on-year in August. 

In the first eight months of this year, Toyota’s cumulative sales in China came in at 1,207,800 units, down 5.11% from that of the previous year. 

In the past month, Honda Motor sold 102,257 vehicles in China, representing a 25.1% drop year-on-year while also indicating a 14% jump month-on-month.

In the Jan.-Aug. period, Honda’s cumulative China sales decreased 24% from a year ago to 721,639 vehicles, with 147,288 units being electrified vehicles, said the automaker. Note that Honda categorized all pure-electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and vehicles equipped with Honda’s Two-Motor Hybrid-Electric System as electrified vehicles. 

As to Nissan Motor, with 64,905 vehicles sold in China last month, the company faced a 28.9% plunge over the previous year and a 9.07% hike from the previous month. For the first eight months of the year, Nissan Motor’s cumulative sales volume amounted to 482,921 vehicles in China, down 23.5% from a year ago.

In the past month, Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan, Venucia, and INFINITI brands) sold a total of 61,967 vehicles, which climbed up 9.69% compared to that of the month-ago period. Among which, Nissan, Venucia, and INFINITI brands all recorded month-on-month sales growth, with increases of 9.7%, 7.8%, and 31.8%, respectively. 

Shohei Yamazaki, Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Corporation and Chairman of Nissan's China Management Committee, as well as President of Dongfeng Motor Corporation, commented on the performance, that with the launch of the Nissan ARIYA 500 and the Venucia V-Online DD-i hybrid models in July, the company is dedicated to further enriching its new energy product lineup in China.