Japanese car makers’ sales in China in the first three months of the year have yet to recover fully from last year’s slump, and foreign rivals are capitalising in a market which expects seven per cent growth this year.

Mazda Motor Corp. said yesterday that it and its partners’ sales in China, the world’s biggest car market, dropped 21.5 per cent in the three months to March from the same period a year ago.

The figures suggest Japanese car companies are likely to struggle in China for some time to come, and early optimism of a fast recovery – Mazda said in November it hoped to be back to normal by the end of March – was misplaced.

Earlier this week, Nissan Motor Co. said its sales were down 15.1 per cent year-on-year in the three months to March, while Toyota Motor Corp’s fell 12.7 per cent and Honda Motor Co’s decreased 5.2 per cent.

“While the year-on-year percentage drop of China sales by Japanese automakers is shrinking, sales are still down by around 10 per cent, which shows that they are still struggling in the overall market. We think this will continue this year and into the next year and the following year,” said Masatoshi Nishimoto, an analyst at IHS Automotive in Tokyo.

Though the figures have improved since last September, when sales plunged by around 50 per cent after violent anti-Japan protests broke out in China in response to a diplomatic spat between the countries, Japanese firms continue to struggle against rivals including Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co.

Japanese automakers’ collective share of China’s passenger vehicle market fell to 12.5 per cent at the end of February from 16.4 per cent at the end of last year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

German brands in particular have taken advantage and claim 19.3 per cent of the market, up from 18.4 per cent. Data for March was not yet available.

GM’s sales in the first three months rose 9.6 per cent from the same period last year, it said yesterday. Of the Japanese brands, Honda is proving the most resilient this year, partly as a result of the CR-V crossover SUV it launched in 2012.