AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)09/06 Report--

Once-glamorous joint venture brands are now suffering from a winter of sales in the Chinese market, especially Nissan and Honda.

On September 6, Nissan China announced its results for China in August 2024. Data show that Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan, Qichen and Infiniti brands) sold 46479 units in August 2024, down 28.39% from the same period last year; light commercial vehicle sector (Zhengzhou Nissan) sold 2725 units, down 7.25% from the same period last year; in addition, Nissan's China sales totaled 435603 units as of August 2024, down 9.8% from the same period last year.

Earlier, Makoto Uchida, president and chief executive of Nissan, said in an interview with the media that Chinese carmakers were "getting stronger" and that Nissan was caught in a "survival game" in the Chinese market. 'The needs of Chinese customers are very different from those in other regions, and if we continue to do things the way we used to do, I don't think we have a good chance of survival,'he said. Nissan is committed to staying in China and is planning to work with local companies to remain competitive. Chinese carmakers can develop new cars at an alarming rate, and Nissan is working with its Chinese partner Dongfeng Automobile Group to export more cars from China and possibly to Europe.

At present, Nissan's domestic passenger cars include Xuanyi, Xiaoke, Teana, Qijun, Jinke, Bluebird, Loulan and so on. Xuanyi is the main selling model of Dongfeng Nissan and the evergreen model of the joint venture compact car. Xuanyi sold a total of 194500 in the previous July, accounting for 56.3% of the total sales of the Dongfeng Nissan brand. At the same time, sales of other Dongfeng Nissan models are also very worrying, with Teana and Haoke selling 47800 and 58400 respectively, while models such as Bluebird, Tuda and Quetta are even more miserable.

In addition to fuel vehicles, the performance of new energy vehicles is also poor. At present, the new energy models sold by Dongfeng Nissan include Qichen Big V DD-i Super Hybrid, Super Hybrid Drive Qijun, Ariya AiRuiya, Super Hybrid Electric Drive Xuanyi, and Xuanyi Electric Drive e-POWER, of which 1469 Ariya have been sold.

Nissan is trying to revolutionize its strategy in the face of a collapse in sales in China, the world's largest car market. 'it 's more like a survival game, 'Mr. Uchida said. We are committed to staying in China, but the way we stay in China has changed dramatically. Nissan will launch five new electric or hybrid vehicles in China over the next two years and will deepen partnerships with local companies to promote progress in car development in China.

In addition to Nissan, Honda's life in the Chinese market is getting harder and harder. On Sept. 4, Honda China released the latest terminal sales data, showing that Honda's total sales of terminal vehicles in China from January to August in 2024 were 525432, down 27.19% from the same period last year, including 56959 in August, down 44.29% from the same period last year.

On July 26, Honda China announced that it would close two factories. GAC Honda plans to close its fourth production line with an annual capacity of 50, 000 units in October 2024, while Dongfeng Honda plans to close its second production line with an annual capacity of 240000 units in November 2024. After the adjustment, Honda's total car production capacity in China has been changed from 1.49 million to 1.2 million. At the same time, Dongfeng Honda's new electric dedicated plant under construction will be put into production in September 2024, and Guangzhou Auto Honda's new new energy plant will be put into production in November 2024. Honda plans to make up for capacity cuts through two new electric car plants under construction, which are expected to restore capacity to 1.44 million vehicles. Earlier, Guangzhou Auto Honda launched massive layoffs of about 1700 employees.

At present, China is the world's largest market for cars and electric vehicles. In 2023, China beat Japan (4.42 million vehicles) for the first time to become the world's largest car exporter. Compared with international competitors, Chinese-made electric cars have a great advantage in cost control. In the context of the growing strength of Chinese car companies in developing and manufacturing trams, the advantages of joint venture traditional fuel vehicles have been gradually erased. Even if forced to cut prices, not many Chinese consumers are willing to pay for it.

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