Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. said sales of their new vehicles in China surged in October compared with last year, when they were severely hit by the flare-up in the Senkaku territorial dispute.
Honda's sales more than tripled to 75,150 units, compared with 24,115 in October 2012, it said Monday. Nissan said its sales swelled 127.8 percent to 114,700 vehicles.
The figures show a further sign of an improvement in Chinese consumers' sentiment toward Japanese automobiles despite the lack of tangible progress in improving the diplomatic relationship.
Toyota Motor Corp. said last week its sales of new vehicles in China surged 80.6 percent over October of last year to 82,400 units.
As for Honda, supported by strong demand for its new Crider sedan and the CR-V sport utility vehicle, its total sales for the first 10 months of the year in China — the world's biggest auto market — rose 15.8 percent from a year earlier to 572,405 units.
During that period, Nissan's sales increased 7.1 percent to about 1 million units.
To achieve more gains, it plans to introduce at the Guangzhou Auto Show later this month a new luxury sedan called the Teana specifically designed for the Chinese market.