The diplomatic fall out and consumer backlash against Japanese products continued into November with Honda announcing that sales were down in China 29% in year on year figures.
Although the figures are down, it seems that the situation is slowly improving as October’s sales were down nearly 50% in October.In November 2012 Honda sold 41,205 cars in China, a fall of 29.2% over November 2011. Total sales from January to November reached 535,313 units in total, a drop of 0.8% over 2011 during the same time frame.
Sales of Japanese branded vehicles are expected to return to normal prior to the Chinese new year when consumers rush to buy a new car, with heavy discounts on Japanese cars and relatively short waiting times, Japanese cars will once again earn their charm.
I also agree that Japanese brands will be back to normal by Chinese New Year, Chinese just love cars too much to ignore them.
Yesterday Bertel at The Truth About Cars wrote a piece about how GM could be hit by the same ‘Anti Country’ protests should there ever be a protest in China against the USA. Personally I cant see it ever happening, but there is the possibility.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/12/what-is-happening-to-toyota-honda-nissan-in-china-can-happen-to-gm/