Japanese automobile manufacturers have had a tumultuous time over the last few years. However, recent declines in their sales performances have not been nearly as severe as falls in the past. According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 245,700 Japanese-branded Chinese-produced vehicles were sold in the country in January. While the figure is only down 1.9 percent from the previous January, it is down a full 38.7 percent from the previous month.
While Nissan saw its sales’ grow in January, sales of Toyota and Honda both fell. This was in contrast to January of last year, where Nissan was the only one of the Japanese ‘big three’ to experience negative sales growth. Nissan’s sales grew 5.3 percent in January, finishing at 68,900; by comparison, sales of Toyota and Honda saw their sales for the month fall 12.6 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.
Nissan’s most successful model has been the New Bluebird Sylphy, which has quickly risen to top of the sales charts. Sales of the car this month totaled 25,400 units. Sales growth of the New X-Trail have also grew substantially, increasing from just 829 units sold in January 2014 to 11,400 units this January. While none of Nissan’s other models managed sales of over 10,000 vehicles, the New Sunny’s performance was very exceptional, with a total of 8,912 models sold over the course of the month.
Toyota’s most successful model was the Corolla, whose sales totaled 15,900 units sold in January, up approximately 90 percent from the previous year. Sales of the Camry have also been very strong, with a total of 13,600 units sold over the course of the month; meanwhile, sales of the Levin totaled 9,145 units. The only other Toyota model whose sales increased was the Yaris, whose sales increased 4.5 percent. By comparison, sales of the RAV4 and Vios fell dramatically.
Sales of Honda’s key models, the CR-V and the Crider, both decreased in January. Monthly sales of the former totaled 11,200 units, down 41.5 percent, while sales of the latter fell 54.7 percent to only 7,473 units. However, sales of the new Vezel and the new XR-V were exceptionally strong, totaling 9,461 units and 6,149 units, respectively.
The best-selling Japanese automobile in the country was the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, followed by the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V, Honda Vezel, Nissan Sunny, Mazda3 Azteca, Toyota Levin and Nissan New Teana. Only three of those models, the Bluebird Sylphy, Camry and CR-V, appeared in last January’s top sales charts.
