Sept vehicle sales race to robust increase

Japanese automakers show biggest rebound following last year's dip

Vehicle sales in China showed unexpectedly robust growth in September as Japanese producers continued to recover from anti-Japanese sentiment last year, which was tied to a territorial dispute between the two countries.

Vehicle sales were up 19.66 percent to 1.94 million, far above the increase of 10.3 percent in August, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported on Friday.

The boom last month brought January-September sales growth to 12.7 percent, surpassing CAAM's full-year forecast of 7 percent issued earlier this year.

Honda Motor Co vehicles displayed at Auto Beijing 2013 in August. Japanese automakers all reported huge sales surges last month, with Honda leading the list with a gain of 118 percent. Provided to China Daily

"The stable uptrend in recent months made us optimistic enough to say that China's total vehicle sales are likely to surge by 12 percent to 21.5 million units this year," said Rao Da, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.

CAAM attributed the surge to strong momentum in the passenger car segment. Another factor was an increase in deliveries in the commercial vehicle segment.

In September, passenger vehicle sales in China gained 21.1 percent year-on-year to 1.59 million units.

Total deliveries in the first nine months increased by 14 percent to 12.85 million units.

Japanese automakers all reported huge sales surges last month, with Honda Motor Co leading the list with a gain of 118 percent, followed by Nissan Motor Co's 83.4 percent, Toyota Motor Co's 63 percent and Mazda Motor Corp's 34.4 percent.