Honda says April China auto sales down 3.6%

A Honda CR-V is displayed during the 15th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai, China, April 22, 2013. [Photo / dfic.cn]

Honda Motor Co Ltd and its two local joint ventures sold 58,398 automobiles in China in April, down 3.6 percent from a year earlier, the Japanese automaker said on Thursday.

That follows a 2 percent year-on-year fall in March and a 27.6 percent rise in February.

The company's sales in the first four months of the year came to 222,408 vehicles, up 10.7 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Honda will double the number of car models it sells in China over the next two years to increase marketshare, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported last week.

Honda, which operates car ventures in China with Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd, aims to sell 900,000 cars in the country this year, up 18.9 percent from a year earlier.

Top 10 best-selling SUVs in Chinese mainland	Models at New York auto show