Sales of new Japanese cars in China took a hit in November amid the government's strict zero-COVID policy and a renewed wave of infections.

Toyota says it sold about 140,000 new vehicles last month, down 18.4 percent year-on-year. That marks the first decline in six months for the company.

Honda saw its new car sales drop 42.8 percent to roughly 78,000 vehicles. Nissan's sales plunged by 52.5 percent to about 47,000 units.

This is the first fall in unit sales in China for all three automakers since May, when the country's largest economic center, Shanghai, was put under lockdown.
The number of COVID cases in China has been rising, at one point last month logging a record daily high. That led to temporary closure of some dealerships, and reduced customer traffic at those that were still open.