Position in China Declines... Japanese Cars Also Losing to BYD at Home

The Japanese automobile industry is facing an emergency. As the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is delayed, local companies are gaining ground in the key market of China, and for the first time, Toyota has been overtaken by the Chinese BYD in the electric vehicle segment even in its home market.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 10th, Honda's sales in the Chinese market fell below one million units for the first time in nine years last year. It recorded 852,269 units, a 30.9% decrease compared to 2023.

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Nissan sold 696,631 units, down 12.2% year-on-year, and Toyota Motor Corporation sold 1,776,000 units, down 6.9%. This marks the third consecutive year of sales declines compared to the previous year.

Adding the Chinese sales of Honda and Nissan, which are pursuing a management integration, the total was 1,548,900 units last year, which is less than half of BYD's 3.83 million units.

Nikkei stated, "The difficulty faced by Japanese cars is due to the delayed introduction of new energy vehicles such as electric vehicles, which have seen increased demand in the Chinese market."

In the domestic market, there has also been a situation where Chinese brands have overtaken Japanese brands. According to the automobile industry association, the best-selling brand in Japan's electric vehicle market in 2024 was Nissan, with 30,749 units sold. This was followed by Tesla (5,600 units), Mitsubishi (2,504 units), BYD (2,223 units), Toyota (2,038 units), Hyundai (607 units), and Honda (147 units). Notably, sales of Nissan (-44%), Mitsubishi (-64%), Toyota (-30%), and Honda (-49%) decreased significantly, while BYD (54%) and Hyundai (24%) saw substantial sales growth.

Nikkei evaluated, "As the presence of Japanese companies fades, Chinese and Korean companies have driven the growth of electric vehicles in the Japanese market."