AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)11/06 Report--

On November 6th, Nissan announced its results for China in October 2023. Data show that in October 2023, sales of Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan, Qichen and Infiniti brands) were 70006, down 18.66% from a year earlier, while sales of light commercial vehicles (Zhengzhou Nissan) were 3266, up 16.52% from a year earlier. In addition, from January to October 2023, Nissan sold 620016 units in China, including passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles.

Of the three major Japanese brands, Nissan experienced the most significant decline. On November 3rd, Honda China released its latest sales figures, showing that Honda sold 130424 vehicles in China in October, up 22.92% from a year earlier. Although Honda China no longer reported specific joint venture sales, but unsurprisingly, both companies achieved sales growth.

Japanese cars don't sell as well as they used to! Sales of Japanese brands totaled 2.6127 million in the first three quarters of 2023, down 15.4 per cent from a year earlier and accounting for 17.2 per cent of the Chinese market, compared with 20.0 per cent in 2022, according to the Federation. From the perspective of specific manufacturers, the Japanese manufacturers in the top 10 include Guangzhou Automobile Toyota, FAW Toyota and Dongfeng Nissan, with sales of 663800 vehicles, 584800 vehicles and 515800 vehicles respectively, of which Dongfeng Nissan plummeted 26.6%. To make matters worse, Honda, Guangzhou Auto Honda and Dongfeng Honda continued to fall out of the top 10 after entering 2023. The two Japanese joint ventures sold 427600 and 401000 vehicles respectively in the first three quarters, a year-on-year decline of more than double digits.

In the past, Japanese cars have become the first choice for Chinese people to buy cars because of their high value preservation rate, high fuel economy and low maintenance costs, but with the rapid popularization of electric vehicles in China and the improvement of the brand appeal of local enterprises, it is difficult for Japanese cars to survive only on the quality and fuel consumption of German and Japanese brands.

On October 24, Japan's Mitsubishi Motors announced that it would stop localized production. GAC-Mitsubishi Motors, established in 2010, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of GAC GROUP, the Mitsubishi Automobile brand will be terminated domestically, and its Hunan plant will be taken over by GAC Ean. The latter will start producing Eian-branded models in 2024.

Joint venture brands, including Japanese brands, are bearing the strong impact of their own brands and the tremendous pressure of electric transformation at the same time. In the first three quarters, the market share of China's own brands was 50.7%, compared with 47.3% in 2022. In the new energy vehicle market, with the exception of Tesla, the top 10 manufacturers in the first three quarters of 2023 are all Chinese manufacturers.

As the electrification transformation has little effect and the share shows a downward trend, the joint venture brand is facing greater sales pressure, and it is expected that the market share will accelerate to the head independent and new energy brands, and the market share of the second and third-tier brands may face a long-term downward trend. then the weak joint venture brands are gradually eliminated, withdraw from the Chinese market, weak car-making new forces may face acquisition integration.

In the view of the industry, there are still opportunities for joint venture brands, but changes must be made, especially at the marketing and technical level. Germany and Japan account for 40% of the Chinese market, indicating that Chinese consumers are not far away from joint venture brands, and joint venture brands still have great opportunities for development in the Chinese market, and changes in technology and marketing are inevitable. but if it is still unchanged, enjoy its success, do not adapt to the times for iteration and upgrading, then it is also doomed to be eliminated by the market, including Suzuki and Mitsubishi are bloody lessons.

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