Japanese carmakers still facing uphill task

Toyota sold nearly 466,000 vehicles during the first half of the year, up 11.7 percent from a year earlier.SHI YAN/CHINA DAILY

Market share rises, but far short of the peak in 2008

The market share for Japanese carmakers in China has recovered slightly from the low point it hit two years ago in the wake of a diplomatic row.

According to statistics from automotive news portal auto.gasgoo.com, Japanese brands sold about 1.46 million cars in the first half, up 15.5 percent from the same period last year.

They had a combined market share of 16.5 percent in the first half, a slight increase from the 16.4 percent in the past two years.

In June alone, Japanese carmakers sold more than 270,000 cars in China, about 17.3 percent of the total passenger vehicle sales that month.

Despite some ups and downs over the past six months, by June their market share had increased nearly 4 percentage points over January.

Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki and Mazda all reported a year-on-year increase of more than 10 percent in the first six months.

Nissan, currently the best-selling Japanese brand in China, moved about 620,000 vehicles in the first half, an increase of 14.6 percent over the same period last year.

Toyota sold nearly 466,000 vehicles in the period, up 11.7 percent from a year earlier.

First half sales by Honda rose 11.6 percent to some 353,000 units.

In the same period, Suzuki's sales grew by 11.5 percent to nearly 140,000 units and Mazda sales surged by 19.8 percent to 98,900 units.

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