Japan-brand sales plummet
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E-mail China Daily, October 22, 2012
Plummeting Japanese sales in the wake of an ongoing diplomatic dispute were largely responsible for a sluggish September as China's auto market declined 1 percent to 1.6 million units sold.
Combined Japanese-brand car sales for the month declined 41 percent to around 160,000 units, far lower than original estimates. That translates to 110,000 fewer sales and $2 billion in lost revenue.
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China's national flag at a sales booth during an auto show in Hunan province. Domestic car sales rose amid continuing diplomatic tensions. [He Dongping / For China Daily] |
All major Japanese brands were badly hurt: Nissan, Toyota and Honda had sales declines ranging from 47 percent to 39 percent. As a result, they are now cutting shifts or even halting production.
The 1.2 million units sold in the overall market meant no growth compared with the same month last year. Commercial vehicle sales only reached 400,000 million units, a decline of 6 percent year-on-year.
The projected total sales figure for the year based on September figures is now 18.46 million units, down 5 percent from the 19.4 million unit estimate last month.
Projected sales of passenger vehicles declined by 5.75 percent to 13.66 million units, while the rate for commercial vehicles declined by 2.73 percent to 4.8 million units.
On segment level, the performance of minicars and subcompact cars remained weak in September, declining by 16 percent and 8 percent respectively.
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