From Investors Business Daily:
A dispute over islands in the East China sea have come to a boil in the past month and Mitsubishi and Mazda car sales have slumped in the world's most populous country. But the dispute may be good news for U.S. automakers, paving the way for General Motors (GM) and Ford Motor (F) to gain traction in the country.
Last month Chinese protesters boycotted Japanese products including cars after Japan bought a group of islands from a private owner. The ownership of the islands, called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, have been disputed since World War II.
As Chinese drivers steered clear of Japanese cars, Toyota Motor (TM) and Nissan (NSANY) announced plans last month to put the brakes on production in China. China is a huge market for Japanese cars and the cutbacks mean a serious loss of sales for the automakers. On Friday Mitsubishi said sales plunged 63% in September to 2,340 vehicles in China. Mazda said Thursday that sales fell 35% last month....MORE
