3 Japanese Automakers Suffer Sales Slumps in China in 2024

Beijing, Jan. 9 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. on Thursday reported slumps in new vehicle sales in China in 2024.
 

The three automakers, strong in gasoline vehicles, struggled in the world's biggest auto market, where electric vehicles are popular.
 

Honda's sales skidded 30.9 pct to 852,269 units, marking the biggest fall among the three. Its sales in China stood below 1 million units for the first time in nine years.
 

Nissan, which announced last month the start of business integration talks with Honda, saw its sales dive 12.2 pct to 696,631 units.
 

Their combined sales totaled 1.55 million units, only half the peak level of 3.1 million units in 2019. As they are believed to have a combined production capacity of nearly 3 million units in China, they will have to shut down some plants.
 

Toyota's sales fell 6.9 pct to 1,776,000 units. Although the drop was smaller than those at Honda and Nissan, the pace of decline accelerated from the previous year.
 

Leading Chinese EV maker BYD Co. is aggressively reducing its vehicle prices to expand its market share in the country.
 

Japanese automakers are trying to fight back by launching EV models, but BYD's domestic passenger car sales in 2024 surged 38.4 pct to 3,833,166 units, surpassing the combined annual sales at the three Japanese companies for the first time.
 

"The situation is quite severe," a Japanese industry source said. "Survival is our top priority for now."
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