Honda, Suzuki and Mitsubishi all reported lower new car sales in China for the first two months of the year.
Honda’s sales fell 22.8%; Suzuki was down 14.7% and Mitsubishi down 14.5%.
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Honda blamed lower production volumes as it switched to upgraded models for the fall.
Nissan, the leading Japanese car maker in China, saw its sales grow 11.4% while Mazda’s sales were up 25.9%. Toyota sales stayed relatively stable, up 1.5%.
Overall passenger car sales were down 1.4% for the first two months, reflecting how the industry ended 2011.
The data was combined for January and February to avoid distortion from the impact on sales of the Chinese New Year which was in January this year rather than February.
