Japanese car prices

Recently, most Japanese automakers including Toyota, Nissan, and Honda announced their sales in May 2013. Sales of Toyota, Nissan, and Honda in China for the first time collectively rebounded, with a year-on-year increase of 0.3. %, 2.0% and 4.6%. This is the first time since the last year of the Sino-Japanese Diaoyudao storm that the three major Japanese automobile brands achieved sales growth in the same month; at the same time, following the sharply narrower decline in the sales volume of Japanese auto makers in April this year, they have been showing for two consecutive months. The obvious recovery momentum.

While sales are gradually picking up, Japanese automakers are also speeding up the implementation of new models, expansion of production capacity and other strategies in China, in order to recover the "position" of the fall in the previous months. However, analysts generally believe that the short-term recovery of Japanese car prices does not mean that the real recovery, and then the market performance of Japanese car companies is particularly critical.

Yin Xie San

In the Japanese car companies that have released their sales statistics for May, the performance of the traditional “Japan's top three” is different. Among them, Toyota’s growth rate is the lowest compared to the same period last year, while Honda has the highest growth rate, while Nissan’s sales volume is in a leading position.

According to relevant statistics, in May 2013, Toyota's sales volume in China was approximately 79,000 units, which was a year-on-year increase of approximately 0.3% (in May 2012, Toyota sold 78,000 units in China). In addition to the seasonal factors in January, this is Toyota's first year of sales growth in the Chinese market this year. “The easing of anti-Japanese sentiment in the Chinese market is the main reason why Toyota’s sales in China have rebounded.” A related person from Toyota (China) said in an interview with a reporter from the “China Business”.

In May, Nissan’s overall sales volume in the Chinese market was 102,990 units, a year-on-year increase of 2% on the basis of sales of 100,971 units in May 2012. However, since April 2013, Nissan’s sales statistics in China will no longer include light commercial vehicles that have been transferred to Dongfeng. This means that if Nissan sold 112,048 vehicles in China in May, according to the traditional statistical method that includes commercial vehicles, the year-on-year increase was 11%.

In the same period, Honda sold 54564 vehicles in China, a year-on-year increase of 4.6% (in May 2012, Honda sold 52,146 vehicles in China). It is understood that Honda’s sales in China since September last year (the Sino-Japanese Diaoyu Islands storm) began to decline year-on-year, and this year’s decline has gradually narrowed, with May’s first rebound.

In fact, the apparent slowdown in the overall sales volume of Japanese automakers in April this year has already begun to make many industry insiders judge that Japanese cars will gradually recover in China. It is understood that in 2012 China's new car sales reached 19.3 million, ranking first in the world. Japanese cars have been favored by Chinese consumers, and sales accounted for 20% of them. However, due to the influence of the Diaoyu Islands last year, the Japanese car share was once Falling to 7%, it has now returned to around 15%.

"In order to recover the Chinese market share, Japanese cars have adjusted their strategy in China since last year, and they have chosen the 'Made in China' brand to take the lead in this round of 'big reshuffles' of Japanese cars." Well-known analysis in the automotive industry Jia Xinguang said, "These include measures to adjust the price range, accelerate the pace of expansion in China, increase sales outlets, step up the delivery of new vehicles, and develop new models for Chinese consumers to adapt to the Chinese market."

Homeopathy expansion

Sales volume gradually fell for two consecutive months, in particular, the collective growth of Japanese car prices in May, making most Japanese car companies seem to have confidence in the next round of strategic expansion.

Prior to this, following the Guangzhou Automobile Co., Ltd. Camry, earlier this year, Dongfeng Nissan has upgraded the product of its mid-range model Tian Hao. Although there have been no major changes in the design, the upgrading of the configuration and the powertrain that is upgraded according to the preferences of Chinese consumers still provide a powerful impetus for these two products.

One fact that cannot be ignored is that Japanese brands have rebounded in the B-class market. According to statistics from the China Automobile Association, in April, Dongfeng Nissan Scorpio sales volume was 13,100, an increase of 68.1% year-on-year; GAC Toyota Camry sales reached 13,100, an increase of 20.6% year-on-year; Guangqi Honda Accord sales reached 11,700, up from the same period last year. Increased by 15.9%.

Although in April, the sales volume of the three major mid-to-high-end vehicles in Japan was still in a negative growth year-on-year, but the decline was somewhat narrowed, while the market share increased by 0.3%. "Although compared with the Passat, Magotan, etc., Japanese mid-to-high-class car sales data gap is still relatively large, but the Japanese high-end cars have basically returned to normal levels." Well-known commentator Zhong Shi said the auto industry.

Of course, in addition to the gradual improvement in the sales performance of existing models, Japanese car companies seem to hope to achieve a revival in China through new strategic measures. Following Nissan’s announcement that Infiniti will be domestically produced at Dongfeng Nissan’s Xiangfan Plant, Dongfeng Nissan’s new Dalian plant is rapidly building. Similarly, after Toyota announced in late May that it would establish a new automotive power battery company jointly with Hunan Keliyuan New Energy, it is expected that in July, Toyota will introduce its new imported SUV deterrence into GAC Toyota channel sales.

In addition to Honda’s plan to sing the upcoming domestic production at the Shanghai International Auto Show held in April, Honda will hold a new briefing session in mid-June, in which it is highly probable that three powertrains designed specifically for China will be released. At the end of May, the mid-term variant of the Guangzhou Automobile Honda Concept S1 was officially launched. Subsequently, Guangben announced the launch of the third factory and the engine plant at the same time. At the same time, Honda Motors, a model developed by Honda specifically for China, will also be launched in the near future.

Regain lost ground?

Although the Japanese car companies are in the process of launching a series of new models and landing development plans, this does not mean that the collective recovery of Japanese car companies in China will soon come under the continued tension between China and Japan.

Judging from the overall performance in the first half of this year, the Japanese car companies still have not achieved a complete recovery. According to statistics from the China Automobile Association, from January to May 2013, Toyota’s total sales in China were 340,100 units, which represented a year-on-year decrease of approximately 8.6%. During the same period, Honda’s cumulative sales in China were 255,540 units, which was a year-on-year decline of 2.4%; Nissan was in China. Sales volume was 490,300 units, down 8.4% year-on-year.

"The Nissan May data is indeed a bit better, but this is not the true recovery we expect." An insider of Nissan (China) said cautiously. Toyota, on the other hand, declared that Toyota is barely achieving growth. It is hard to say that sales have actually recovered.

In the past two years, the conservative strategy exhibited by Japanese car companies in China has been criticized by the industry, and the resulting sales difficulties have appeared before this. Under this circumstance, in early 2012, Japanese car companies including Toyota, Honda, and Nissan successively formulated active development strategies in China, hoping to boost the speed of introduction of new models and accelerate the localization of new energy technologies. Strategies to change the situation in China. However, in the critical period when Japanese car companies tried to counterattack, they were also affected by the deterioration of Sino-Japanese relations.

Right now, in order to regain the momentum, Japanese car companies are also accelerating new steps to expand in China, including the launch of new cars and an increase in sales networks. It is expected that by the end of 2013, the number of 4S stores in Japan will reach 3,300, which will increase by 10%. At the same time, 2.8 million new cars will be put on the Chinese market, an increase of about 15% from 2012, a record high.

"In the short term, the short-term recovery of Japanese brands may be mainly due to the launch of many new models and the release of sales demand in the first few months." Jia Xinguang believes that in the long run, Japanese brands still face European and American car companies. GM, Volkswagen and other strong challenges in localization, service outlets and capacity expansion. At the same time, as the impact of the Sino-Japanese Diaoyu Islands storm is difficult to eliminate in the short term, it also means that in the following a long period of time, how to restore consumer confidence in Japanese brands will be Japanese car companies need to face the same Puzzles.