AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/05 Report--

Since the resumption of normal operations in March, major car companies have accelerated the recovery of production capacity and the operation of sales operations to make up for the performance losses during the epidemic. Toyota, Honda and Mazda of Japanese carmakers were the first to report sales figures for March, a sharp decline compared with last month, which was hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic.

Toyota sold 101800 new cars in China in March, down 15.9 per cent from a year earlier. Toyota had the lowest decline among Japanese carmakers and was the one whose sales returned to 100000 + in the first month.

Toyota resumed production at all its factories in China in March, and sales of all models, including premium brand Lexus, are gradually recovering.

By contrast, Toyota sold 145300 vehicles in China in January, down 1.2 per cent from a year earlier and 70.2 per cent in February.

No specific model sales figures are available, but the Asian Dragon, the new RAV4 Rongfang and Leiling / Carola will be the key models for Toyota to restore its performance. All Lexus models are imported from Japan, but production at some Toyota plants in Japan has been suspended since April, including ES, UX, NX and RX models imported into the Chinese market, which is expected to lead to a further decline in April sales.

During the year, Toyota will launch new Hanlanda, C-HR/ Yize pure electric version, new Wechi, RAV4 plug-in hybrid version and other models, while GAC Toyota Wellanda went on sale at the end of February.

For Honda, Honda's terminal sales in China fell 50.8 per cent year-on-year to 60441 in March, according to official figures. Among them, Guangzhou Auto Honda's March terminal sales were 32205, down 50.1% from a year earlier; Dongfeng Honda's March terminal sales were 28236, down 51.5% from a year earlier.

Honda's plant in Wuhan is said to have resumed a small amount of production on March 11, all factories in China have resumed work, and production at Dongfeng Honda's Wuhan plant will step up efforts to return to normal. Starting from April, Dongfeng Honda will implement two-shift climbing and gradually return to normal levels, officials said.

In terms of new car planning, Honda will launch the new fourth-generation Fido, Ling Pai Rui hybrid, hatchback Civic, CR-V plug-in hybrid version, and so on.

Mazda sold 12958 new cars in China in March, down 28.3% from a year earlier, with FAW Mazda selling 5314 and Changan Mazda selling 7644.

In terms of specific models, Onksera is still the main volume model, accounting for half of the sales. Onksera sold more than 10,000 units for three consecutive months from November last year to January this year, and its product strength improved significantly after the replacement, but it was almost unable to sell due to the epidemic, and sales declined. It sold 5669 units in March and sold a total of 17326 units from January to March.

During the year, Mazda will introduce domestic CX-30 small SUV and introduce compression ignition technology Skyactiv-X engine, which will be the first to be used in Onksera models.

Nissan, one of the big four Japanese carmakers, has not yet released March sales figures.

Japanese car companies, led by Toyota, have seen a stronger recovery in sales after the epidemic. There is a view that the continuous cold winter and epidemic situation in the car market will further lead to the "Matthew effect" of brand differentiation.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat