The sales of the Toyota Motor Corp. in the country of China have been down by nearly 40 percent in the month of September as compared to the previous year. The sales of some of its rival companies like BMW and Hyundai however soared high in China. This fact of Toyota’s China sales fall reveals how badly the two countries have been struck by their ongoing territorial row.
The situation:
Violent calls and protests rose in different parts of China for the boycott of all kinds of Japanese goods and products in the middle of September this year. As a result there has been a marked Toyota Motor’s sales fall in the country along with the other Japanese car makers as well. The dispute between the two neighboring countries started as a result of the buying of a group of small islands located in the sea of Eastern China by the government of Japan from a person who was the private owner of the islands.
Sales of Toyota:
A hit of this prolonged nature on Toyota’s China sales definitely poses a threat to the profit forecasts of the Toyota Motor Corp. This is due to the fact that China is the biggest market of cars and accounts for a large portion of the global sales of the cars of the Toyota Motor Corp. According to a senior executive of the company, who spoke on condition of his identity kept hidden, Toyota sold as many as 50000 cars in the month of September in China. Statistics show that the figure was somewhere around 86000 in the month of September the last year. This year’s figure of Toyota’s China sales in September can be considered better as compared to the month of August when the Toyota Motor’s sales fall was registered to behalf of what was sold in the previous year. Even though Toyota Motor Corp. declined to confirm the exact number, they said that they would announce their sales in the month of September in China on Tuesday. As a result of Toyota Motor’s sales fall, the Toyota Motor Corp. has been forced to reduce their production in the past few weeks. But in spite of the fall in Toyota’s China sales, China still remains to be one of the most promising markets for the Japanese cars.
Recent escalation in tension:
An anti Japan sentiment rose across China last month in the midst of a row that concerned a small group of uninhabited islands that are known as the Diaoyu islands in China and as the Senkaku islands in Japan. The islands that have been under the possession of Japan since the year 1895 are considered to be potentially very rich reserves of natural gas. An outlet of the Toyota Motor Corp. had been torched recently in the eastern city Qingdao as a demonstration of anti Japanese sentiments. It has been Japanese car makers that have lost the most as a result of the turmoil even though other sectors have been affected as well. Toyota’s China sales may have come down considerably as compared to the last year but the executives of the company are expecting the situation to better sooner rather than later.
