Toyota, Honda and Nissan have all restored production levels as Chinese car sales rebound.
Anti-Japan protests, which caused sales of the nation’s top marques to tumble in the fourth quarter of 2012, are receding, allowing Japanese automakers to return to normal production levels in China.
According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, operations at Toyota’s two Chinese joint ventures have resumed. Likewise, production at Honda’s Dongfeng Motor Corp and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co joint production resumed mid-January. Nissan’s venture has also returned to pre-protest output levels.
Despite sales tumbling by more than 40% in November, Toyota sales proved “surprisingly resilient” in December, according to one senior official at the company. The Japanese carmaker's sales for the last month of the year were “almost” 90,000 vehicles, compared to 108,000 units sold in the same period a year earlier.
The official claimed the rebound in unit sales were mainly due to discounts and other sales incentives, although customer traffic had increased in general by an “encouraging” amount.