- Following the diplomatic conflict between China and Japan concerning the bordering territories of the two countries, The sales of Japanese carmakers in China have been boycotted by a portion of their customers. Their production volume therefore collapsed between September 2012 and March 2013, but since January 2013 the collapse is tending to slow down.

- Let us recall that the production of Japanese carmakers in China is intended only for the local market (except for a few Honda Jazz that traveled to Europe) and therefore could not offset the collapse through exports.

- The four major Japanese carmakers manufacturing in China (Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda) had not yet caught up with their delayed production by March 2013, but since April 2013 three of them (Toyota , Nissan and Honda) have managed to catch up on their loss. But the production lost between September 2012 and March 2013 is permanently lost, because the customers that left during this period are now customers of the competition (Hyundai, Kia, GM, Volkswagen and PSA). 100% Chinese carmakers do not seem to have benefited greatly from the momentary weakness of the Japanese.

- This six months production loss is a deadweight loss for Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda who however had a good 2012 year in terms of global sales. Their normal rate of production in China is expected to be regained in the coming months.

 Data source: File #55 - Registrations in the World by makes 

- The Chinese government has repeatedly urged Chinese carmakers to come together in order to fight against the world's leading carmakers such as Toyota, GM, Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan and Hyundai-Kia (see "The Chinese groups' multi-brand strategy called into question"). Currently, China has a hundred different carmakers, some of which include a number of specific brands.

- A few years ago, we saw Nanjing MG come under the control of SAIC, but the Chinese are still few groups, each carmaker trying to preserve its own prerogatives in a growing market that has not yet fixed the sale volume per brand. Each brand is trying to be among the most widespread, before even considering the purchase of a smaller company or other Sino-Chinese partnerships.

- Today, Dongfeng (the third Chinese automaker including the JV with foreign carmakers) took the initiative to buy 40% of Fujian Motor, the owner of Souest. Souest sold 80,000 cars in China last year and could sell 100,000 this year (35,000 in the first four months of 2013). Its market share is less than 1% of the whole Chinese market. The Dongfeng carmaker sold 370,000 cars under its own brand in 2012 (2.5% market share) and over 2 million cars thanks to a partnership with Nissan, Kia, Honda and PSA.

- With Soueast, Dongfeng could approach 5% market share in China while having a new plant with a capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year.