Toyota China sales extend slump in october on dispute backlash

Toyota Motor Corp., Asia's largest automaker, saw its China sales extend their slump last month as consumers shunned Japanese cars amid a territorial dispute between the region's two largest economies.

Toyota's October deliveries fell 44 percent from a year earlier to 45,600 vehicles, the company said in a text message. Sales fell 49 percent in September, the biggest monthly drop in a decade.

Sales of Japanese auto brands have tumbled after tensions escalated in China in September over islands claimed by both countries, as consumers favored cars made by other foreign automakers such as Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Co.

Toyota's sales in China during the July-to-September period tumbled 23 percent to 197,700 units, the biggest quarterly drop on record, according to company figures stretching back to 2002. The Toyota City, Japan-based automaker is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter results on Nov. 5.

--Editors: Chua Kong Ho, Young-Sam Cho

To contact the reporter on this story: Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai at kchua6bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2bloomberg.net