March sales in China: all four Japanese OEMs achieve y/y increases

By April 7, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and Mazda announced their sales results in China for March 2017. Sales at all four companies increased year-over-year (y/y), while Toyota, Honda, and Mazda achieved double-digit growth. Sales at Nissan showed a single-digit increase, but the company was able to take over the lead from Toyota.
On April 7, Nissan announced that it sold 120,106 vehicles in China in March, which was a 9.0% rise y/y. Growth was attributable to significant sales increases of the major Sylphy compact sedan and Qashqai SUV, and Nissan took the top spot among Japanese OEMs for the first time in two months. The company’s year-to-date (YTD) sales since January reached 314,347 vehicles, up 5.3% y/y.
Toyota sold 112,400 vehicles, an 11.9% increase y/y as a result of its intensive sales campaigns. By model, the Corolla compact sedan and RAV4 SUV sold well. Toyota’s YTD sales reached 296,000 units, up 1.7% y/y.
Honda achieved its highest-ever sales for the month of March for sales of 111,127 units, up 14.6% y/y. Its sales were buoyed by favorable demand for models including the Civic compact car, whose sales almost quadrupled from the same month in 2016. The Accord and Civic also sold well. YTD sales reached 305,296 units, up 16.6% y/y.
On April 5, Mazda announced that it sold 23,635 units in China in March, growth of 20.9% y/y. It achieved the highest-ever sales for the month thanks to continued strong demand for the CX-4 and the partially improved Mazda3 Axela, which was released in February. The automaker’s YTD sales reached 64,439 units, up 10.3% y/y.
(Honda (China) press release from April 6, 2017)
(Mazda (China) press release from April 5, 2017)