About one-third of car dealers in China missed their sales targets in the first half of 2012 and 49 percent posted losses, J. D. Power's survey showed.
The quality gap between domestic and international brands is narrowing with the average rate of reported problems at a record low, according to the JD Power Asia Pacific 2012 China Initial Quality Study released last week.
Japanese carmakers recently adjusted their full-year sales and revenue targets after their China businesses continued to stagnate in the wake of anti-Japanese protests over territorial disputes that peaked in September.
China's electric-vehicle industry is falling behind other major auto markets as sales decline sharply and market share remains low.
Geely sold a combined 43,000 vehicles in China and overseas in September, a rise of 43 percent from August, and 33 percent more than last September.
Prices of both domestically made and imported vehicles in 36 Chinese cities continue to fall, according to statistics from the price supervision center at the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic regulator.
Jaguar Land Rover delivered 53,616 vehicles in China in the first nine months of the year, an 80 percent surge over the same period last year.
Sales at Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Company Ltd rose to a new monthly record in September as Chinese customers snubbed Japanese cars.
General Motors Co's auto sales in China climbed only 1.7 percent in September, barely benefiting from its Japanese rivals' plunging sales.
Toyota Motor Corp saw its sales in China fall by half in September compared to August, as tensions between Japan and China flared over the Diaoyu islands.
Customer satisfaction with major automakers has climbed to its highest point in the past 10 years.
Domestic carmaker Geely Automobile Co reported August sales of 30,171 vehicles, an increase of 18 percent over a year earlier and 7 percent over the previous month. The company exported 8,600 vehicles last month, nearly 30 percent of its total delivery in August.
Audi delivered 34,595 cars in China last month, helping hike its January-to-August sales by 33.6 percent year-on-year to almost 260,000 units.
Guangzhou Automobile Group Corp plans to go abroad as it begins export of its own passenger vehicle brand Trumpchi next year.
General Motors Co, the biggest foreign automaker in China, said sales in the country rose 7.3 percent last month, led by demand for Chevrolet vehicles.
FAW Car Co Ltd, the listed arm of FAW Group, reported a loss of 61 million yuan ($9.61 million) in the first half compared with a net profit of 80 million yuan in the same period last year.
A record 1-million-plus people in Beijing competed for fewer than 20,000 registration certificates qualifying them to buy cars through a lottery system.
Czech car maker Skoda Auto sold 72,600 cars in July, up 6 percent from the same period last year, the company said here on Thursday.
Dongfeng Motor said its net profits slumped 67.52 percent year-on-year to 95.67 million yuan ($15.2 million) in the first half of 2012.
The number of vehicles produced by Volvo and sold in China had shrunk by 28.4 percent in the Chinese market in July year-on-year.