BEIJING, Oct 9: Nissan Motor Co’s China auto sales, excluding imports, fell 34.6 percent in September from a year earlier as Chinese consumers shunned Japanese cars in response to a territorial row between the two countries.
Nissan’s vehicle venture with China’s Dongfeng Motor Group Co sold 88,249 vehicles last month, the Chinese company said.
Sales totalled 1.09 million vehicles in the first nine months of this year, down 0.4 percent from the same period in 2011.
Other Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor are expected to release their monthly China sales data later on Tuesday.
Showroom traffic and sales have plunged at Japanese car firms in China since violent protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese products broke out in mid-September over the Japanese government’s purchase of a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea from their private owner.
A senior Toyota executive told Reuters last week its China sales fell about 40 percent year-on-year in September, to about 50,000 cars.
China sales of smaller rival Mazda Motor Corp tumbled 35 percent in September from a year earlier.
The dramatic drop in demand for Japanese vehicles has been an unexpected boon for some other foreign brands, with China sales for South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co rising 15 percent to 84,188 vehicles last month.
(AGENCIES)
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