Japanese Brands Showcase Cars at China Auto Show Despite Negative Sales

As recent times have proven, China has now become one of the worlds biggest auto markets. There are an increasing number of foreign auto manufacturers heading to the Oriental land to tap the country's automotive potential. One such potential tapping event was the 10th Guangzhou Auto Show that was held on Thursday, the 22nd of November, 2012. Present at the show were several local and international car manufacturers, showing off their new cars and concepts.

Among those present were the big names like Nissan Motor Company, Toyota Motor Corporation, Honda Motor Company and even the newly entered PSA Peugeot Citroen. The Japanese auto makers bravely but on a good show despite tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over the dispute of the East China Sea islands.

The dispute has caused a fair amount of anti-Japanese sentiment in China, causing a drop in the sales of Japanese cars. Commenting on the issue, Jean-Yves Dossal, Director of Asian Operations, PSA Peugeot Citroen stated that while the anti-Japanese sentiment is not very adverse, “but still this is true that some Chinese Customers are scared a little bit of buying a new Japanese car.”

Honda however remains confident that they will be able tap the potential of th Chinese market. Yao Yiming, Deputy General Manager, Honda Motor Co. local joint venture stated “Although the automobile market of China confronts great uncertainties, its great potentiality still makes us confident and eager for the future.” Since the tensions over the islands started in September, sales of Toyota Motor Corp. fell by 44 per cent in October. A similar decline was seen in September when the issues rose. Company officials report that Toyota has reduced their sales targets in China from 1 million to 850,000 due to the anti-Japanese sentiments.

Nissan and Honda have faced similar issues of sales decline and were forced to lower thei sales targets as well. Nissan's China sales dropped down by 41 per cent for the month of October while Honda saw a drop of 46 per cent. While it seems these bad sales figures will last for as long as the tensions continue between the two countries, auto experts feel that the issue may soon find closure and fade away sooner than expected.

One such experts stated that while there was a fear factor involved in the Chinese people buying a Japanese car for fear of violence, the consumers are at their core very practical which means they will eventually overcome the fear and go for the more practical Japanese cars.