January sales in China: Nissan, Toyota, Mazda see y/y decline due to Lunar New Year

In January 2017, Nissan, Toyota, and Mazda saw their sales in China decrease on a year-over-year (y/y) basis, while Honda continued to achieve y/y growth for a marginal increase. Sales were impacted by fewer working days due to the earlier start of the Lunar New Year holidays. The decline was also attributable to a lower tax reduction rate for small vehicles with 1.6L or smaller engines. While a 10% tax is levied on a new vehicle purchase, a lower 5% tax rate was applied to small vehicles with 1.6L or smaller engines until the end of 2016. Thereafter, in January 2017, the small car tax rate was increased to 7.5%.
Nissan sold 119,411 vehicles, which was a 6.2% decrease y/y. Its sales were affected by fewer working days due to the Lunar New Year holidays, and a decrease in demand for small vehicles after strong December sales (before the small car tax rate was increased). Toyota sold 101,800 vehicles, down 18.7% y/y due mainly to slow sales of the Corolla and Levin, the OEMs’ major models. Mazda reported sales of 24,994 units, down 3.7% y/y impacted by the Lunar New Year holidays.
Meanwhile, Honda achieved a y/y rise of 5.3% by selling 113,044 vehicles. The company’s sales were the second highest among Japanese automakers for the second consecutive month. Honda attained record sales for the month of January thanks to strong sales of the Civic and Accord, despite decreases in sales of the Vezel and XR-V, which sold well in 2016.
(Honda (China) press release from February 8, 2017)
(Mazda (China) press release from February 3, 2017)