Nissan says Sept China auto sales down 20 percent year-on-year

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) said on Friday that, together with its Chinese joint venture partner, it sold about 93,700 automobiles in China in September, down 20 percent from a year earlier.

That follows a 0.7 percent year-on-year decrease in August and a 12.3 percent drop in July.

The company said in a statement the decline in September was due to sluggish sales of light commercial vehicles and increased competition in the passenger car segment.

The company's sales in the first nine months of the year came to about 879,100 vehicles, up 5.2 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Nissan, which operates a car venture in China with Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd (0489.HK), aims to sell 1.4 million cars in the country this year, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier.

Nissan's Senior Vice President Jun Seki said in May that the company aims to achieve annual China sales of 2 million cars by 2017-2018 as it bolsters its business in the world's largest car market.