AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)09/04 Report--

The auto market has entered a pick-up phase, and a number of head car companies have achieved sales growth, making up for the lost sales data in the first half of the year and hitting the annual sales target. Japanese brands were the first to report August sales, while Toyota maintained its momentum of growth and continued to take the lead, with Honda growing for two consecutive months and Nissan declining.

Toyota has a growing lead in China, and its sales are rising faster than other Japanese brands. Toyota's full-year sales have returned to positive growth, thanks to the continued launch of new products and the growth of the high-end brand Lexus.

According to data released by Toyota, new car sales in China reached 164400 in August, up 27.2% from a year earlier, and sales rose for the fifth month in a row. From January to August, Toyota sold 1.0831 million vehicles, up 4.3 per cent from a year earlier. Toyota has resumed growth in China under the market environment severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. Toyota China has set a sales target of 1.76 million vehicles in 2020 and has now completed 61.54 per cent.

Toyota launched new models or replacement products, the market performance is good, including Carola / Rayling, RAV4 Rongfang, Asian Dragon, Camry and so on, while the Lexus brand has also achieved continued growth. Of these, Lexus sold 20698 vehicles in China in August, up 22.3 per cent from a year earlier, and a cumulative sales volume of 138349 vehicles in the previous month, up 9 per cent from a year earlier.

In the future new product planning, Toyota brand new Hanlanda, Sienna, Harrier will form a "two-car strategy" domestic, further enrich the lineup of domestic models. At the same time, Toyota's joint venture in China has begun to increase production capacity.

Honda, which was locked in a bitter battle in the first half of the year, ended its continuous decline in July and saw double-digit growth in August. Data show that Honda's terminal sales in China in August were 148636, up 19.7 per cent from a year earlier. From January to August, Honda sold 897289 new cars in China, down 9.0 per cent from a year earlier, which has narrowed further to single digits and achieved its target of 1.55 million vehicles for the whole year.

According to the joint venture, Guangzhou Auto Honda sold 71000 vehicles in August, up 19.7% from a year earlier, while Dongfeng Honda sold 77000 vehicles, up 19.8% from a year earlier. In terms of cumulative sales, from January to August this year, Guangzhou Auto Honda sold 455000 vehicles, down 8.1% from the same period last year; Dongfeng Honda sold 442000 vehicles, down 9.8% from the same period last year.

Honda is affected by the "collision between China and Baoyan", product problems continue to ferment, but sales do not seem to have much impact. In terms of models, Accord, Haoying, colorful Zhi, Ling Pai, Civic, CR-V and XR-V sold more than 10, 000 vehicles in August, including more than 20, 000 Civic and CR-V. In the second half of the year, the domestic Civic hatchback version went on sale at a price of 14.39-166900 yuan, while the new domestic Feido officially went on sale in August at a price of 8.18-108800 yuan. With the implementation of the two-car strategy, Honda will still have more domestic models on the market.

Nissan sold 126592 vehicles in august, down 2.4% from a year earlier and falling for the first time in five months. In the first eight months of this year, Nissan sold 843900 vehicles in China, down 11.8 per cent from a year earlier, the biggest decline among the three Japanese brands.

Nissan's overall tepid performance in China also seems to have been affected by the company's financial scandals and huge losses. With the continued growth of Japanese brands, Nissan seems to lack stamina.

In terms of specific models, the Xuanyi series sold 46688 units in August, up 43% from the same period last year; Teana, Qijun and Xiaoke sold 11693 units, 15304 units and 14061 units respectively. Dongfeng Qichen brand remained in the doldrums, with sales of only 5108 vehicles in August, down 40% from a year earlier, while high-end brand Dongfeng Infiniti sold 2768 vehicles in August.

In 2020, domestic passenger cars still declined affected by the epidemic, but they have returned to monthly growth since May. In this context, the market share of Japanese brands is increasing, even close to the status of German brands, which objectively reflects the market performance of Japanese brands in China. Data from the China Automobile Association from January to July show that the market share of Japanese brands has increased to 24.1%, while that of German brands has increased to 25.1%. With the steady performance of Toyota, Honda and Nissan, Japanese brands are expected to surpass German brands in the market share in the future.

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