Car prices drop as Japanese automakers cut output, stickers
China's passenger-vehicle prices may extend declines through the end of the year as consumers shun Japanese brands after a territorial dispute between the two countries, an official said.
Weighed down by Japanese brands, fourth-quarter prices industrywide may fall 1 to 1.5 percent year-on-year, said Cheng Xiaodong, head of autos at the price-monitoring agency under China's National Development and Reform Commission.
Prices fell 1.5 percent industrywide in September, and Japanese brands "will continue to weigh in the coming months," Cheng said. "There's big pricing pressure for Japanese-branded cars."
Car buyers shunned vehicles made by Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. after rioters torched dealerships and smashed cars in protests over disputed islands in September.
That led deliveries of Japanese vehicles to slump 41 percent last month, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Toyota and Nissan's September deliveries in China fell the most since at least 2008, and Honda Motor Co.'s sales dropped 41 percent to the fewest vehicles since May 2011.
Toyota will cut China October production in half and idle lines at the Tianjin plant in the week starting Oct.22, the Nikkei newspaper reported Tuesday. JoichiTachikawa, a Tokyo-based spokesman, reiterated company comments that Toyota is adjusting Chinese production based on demand.
At Nissan, which sells more vehicles in China than Toyota or Honda, the situation is "improving day by day" and the company is adjusting production levels according to demand, said Executive Vice President Hiroto Saikawa, who oversees Asian operations.
Saikawa said he expected sales to return to normal levels in two months. Honda President Takanobu Ito said in an interview last week that it's unlikely for the current political tension to last longer than six months.
Cheng didn't share Ito's optimism. Even if tensions don't flare up again, he said it will take more than six months for sales of Japanese vehicles to recover to pre-protest levels, unless tensions flare up again.
Prices fell 1.5 percent industrywide in September, and Japanese brands "will continue to weigh in the coming months," Cheng said. "There's big pricing pressure for Japanese-branded cars."
Car buyers shunned vehicles made by Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. after rioters torched dealerships and smashed cars in protests over disputed islands in September.
That led deliveries of Japanese vehicles to slump 41 percent last month, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Toyota and Nissan's September deliveries in China fell the most since at least 2008, and Honda Motor Co.'s sales dropped 41 percent to the fewest vehicles since May 2011.
Toyota will cut China October production in half and idle lines at the Tianjin plant in the week starting Oct.22, the Nikkei newspaper reported Tuesday. JoichiTachikawa, a Tokyo-based spokesman, reiterated company comments that Toyota is adjusting Chinese production based on demand.
At Nissan, which sells more vehicles in China than Toyota or Honda, the situation is "improving day by day" and the company is adjusting production levels according to demand, said Executive Vice President Hiroto Saikawa, who oversees Asian operations.
Saikawa said he expected sales to return to normal levels in two months. Honda President Takanobu Ito said in an interview last week that it's unlikely for the current political tension to last longer than six months.
Cheng didn't share Ito's optimism. Even if tensions don't flare up again, he said it will take more than six months for sales of Japanese vehicles to recover to pre-protest levels, unless tensions flare up again.
