Honda says 2014 China auto sales up 4.1 percent year-on-year
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co Ltd and its two Chinese joint ventures sold 788,276 vehicles in China in 2014, up 4.1 percent from the previous year, the Japanese automaker said on Thursday.
In the month of December, Honda sold 142,157 vehicles in China, up 40.1 percent from a year earlier, breaking a streak of five months where it has seen sales decline.
Japanese carmakers in China have faced the twin challenges of a slowing economy and political tension between Beijing and Tokyo over the past year.
Nissan Motor Co's China vehicle sales edged up 0.5 percent by volume last year, lagging industry growth of around 7 percent. Top Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp missed its China sales target for 2014 and has forecast that this year's pace of growth will halve.
Honda makes vehicles in China in partnership with Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd.
(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Kazunori Takada; Editing by Adam Jourdan)
