Honda Motor Co.'s China deliveries jumped 32 percent year on year to 96,692 vehicles last month, reflecting robust volume generated by two compact crossovers, the Vezel and XR-V.

 

By contrast, Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales slipped 3.4 percent to 97,100 vehicles as the automaker failed to match the brisk pace it set earlier this year.

 

Honda nearly matched Toyota's overall sales in June because of strong demand for the Vezel crossover, whose sales rose 34 percent to 12,373 vehicles. Likewise, the Honda XR-V -- a Chinese version of the HR-V crossover sold in the United States -- generated sales of 12,481 vehicles last month, up 48 percent.

 

The Vezel is built at Honda's joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Corp. while the XR-V is produced at the Japanese automaker's partnership with Dongfeng Motor Corp.

 

Due to strong demand for the two crossover models, Honda's first-half deliveries totaled 542,527 vehicles in China, a gain of 18 percent from the same period last year. 

 

For the same period, Toyota's China sales rose nearly 16 percent to 592,100 vehicles. Nissan Motor Co. has not yet released June sales figures for China.