AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/08 Report--

The sudden impact of the epidemic on the domestic car market will have a significant impact on car companies, although the same is true of Japanese brands, which are in a strong momentum in the country, so that sales fell sharply in the first quarter. However, as the car companies accelerate the recovery of production capacity and the operation of the sales business, the sales trend is also gradually stable, of which Toyota is in the best state of recovery.

In the recently released statistics of the sales of the four major Japanese automakers in China in the first quarter, with the exception of Toyota Motor, the other three car companies all dropped by more than 30%, of which Nissan's sales declined the most, falling from the highest sales company in 2018 to the third place. There is a big gap with Toyota. Sales are far less than the other three Mazda brands, and joining the array can only be regarded as a forcible big four.

According to the latest data from Toyota, its cumulative new car sales in China in March 2020 were 101800, down 15.9% from the same period last year, making the Toyota brand the smallest decline among Japanese car companies. and became the first car company to restore sales to 100000 + in March. Its cumulative sales in the first three months were 270900, down 22.1 per cent from a year earlier, and fell 1.2 per cent in January and 70.2 per cent in February.

Despite the "oil incident" of many of the main models of the Toyota brand in early March, it did not seem to have had too much impact on the Toyota brand, thus helping the Toyota brand to achieve a rapid recovery in sales. However, it is worth noting that the spread of COVID-19 in the global region has caused a number of Japanese car companies to stop production, including the seven major Japanese brands of Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki, Subaru and Mitsubishi, which means that models imported through overseas such as Lexus will be greatly affected, as will other Japanese brands.

According to Honda's first-quarter sales results in China, Honda's terminal sales in China in March were 60441 vehicles, down 50.8% from a year earlier. 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. Its cumulative sales from January to March were 221984, down 66.2 per cent from a year earlier.

Honda failed to recover quickly in March, also because Dongfeng Honda, which has more best-selling models, was in the hardest-hit areas of the outbreak and its production capacity recovered late, leaving most dealers in a state of tight car supply.

According to a sales executive at a Dongfeng Honda 4S store in Beijing, "like CRV and Civic, there are no cars in the store. Dongben has arranged for delivery one after another, and customers will not pick up the car until mid-April." However, according to the official announcement of Dongfeng Motor official account, on March 30, Dongfeng Honda's first plant in Wuhan has opened a two-shift production mode, with a daily production capacity of 810 vehicles, so its capacity will be gradually expanded.

As for the biggest decline in sales than Nissan, even though Nissan's overall sales are much higher than Mazda, the extent of the decline has changed significantly. According to the latest sales figures released by Nissan China today, Nissan's sales in China in March were 73297 units down 44.9% from a year earlier. Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. its passenger car sector, including Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Qichen, fell 46.7% from a year earlier to 55424. Sales from January to March were 206551, down 39.9% from the same period last year.

With its Xuanyi, Qijun, Xiaoke and other models to maintain certain sales, of which Xuanyi models have been in the forefront of the domestic car market. Of course, with the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry models continue to rise, the new Teana did not bring more outstanding performance to Nissan, only to maintain the previous trend. At the same time, as Honda and Toyota brands gradually expand the layout of models in China, most of the models under the Nissan brand belong to the end of the product, and their competitiveness is gradually reduced.

Compared with the other three major Japanese brands, the Mazda brand is smaller because of its pursuit of "value marketing". It still maintains a "strong" price in the face of fewer models and reduced competitiveness, which undoubtedly keeps its sales in a state of malaise and no advantage.

According to data on Mazda's new car sales in China, a total of 12958 vehicles were sold in March, down 28.3% from a year earlier, including 5314 units sold by FAW Mazda and 7644 units sold by Changan Mazda. From January to March 2020, Mazda sold only 36351 vehicles, including 20963 in January and 2430 in February.

In the face of this situation, Mazda has also been exposed that it will not push new cars and updated models for two years, which undoubtedly makes Mazda accelerate the decline of its own brand sales in the current downward environment of the industry.

Generally speaking, under the double impact of the overall sales of China's new car market and the COVID-19 epidemic, it is also a fact that Japanese brands remain strong, but there is also a phenomenon of polarization. With the withdrawal of Suzuki brand, in addition to Mazda has gradually become a niche brand, brands such as Mitsubishi and Subaru will not be ideal in China. At the same time, brands like Honda Toyota continue to expand the layout of their models in China, thus helping it to go against the trend many times in China, while Nissan brands are more likely to speed up the improvement of their competitiveness.

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