(Yicai) Oct. 8 -- Automakers and dealerships in China offered significant discounts during the seven-day National Day holiday, hoping to give a good start to sales in the fourth quarter of this year.

At a car mall in Beijing, the 4S, or Sale, Spare parts, Service and Survey, dealership of GAC Toyota Motor, a joint venture between Japan's Toyota Motor and China's Guangzhou Automobile Group, offered discounts of up to CNY35,000 (USD4,955), Yicai found.

Changan Automobile's 4S dealership lowered the price of some models by up to CNY65,000, while that of Dongfeng Honda Automobile, Honda Motor's JV with Wuhan-based Dongfeng Motor Group, discounted its CR-V sport utility vehicle by around CNY39,000, while also offering extended installment payment options and other financial plans.

"Most of the staff at our store did not take any time off during the National Day holiday because the performance of the company and individuals this month heavily depends on sales during the Golden Week," said a sales consultant at a 4S dealership in the mall.     

"The daily sales volume was good in the first few days of the holiday, with the average number of customers and orders per day higher than before the holiday," the consultant added. "On the peak sales day, we delivered more than 10 cars."

Last month, many potential buyers held off and waited for promotional offers during the National Day holiday, the consultant pointed out, adding that since the year-end discounts will not be much bigger, it was a good time to buy a new car.

However, the intense promotions have put significant operational pressure on the 4S car dealerships of JV brands despite the jump in the number of customers and orders during the holiday. Several salespeople told Yicai that most models are sold at a loss, and dealers must rely on after-sales services to earn profits and maintain operations.

JV brand's weakness in the new energy sector has become their biggest vulnerability, the sales consultant noted. New energy vehicles have drawn many customers away from traditional fuel vehicles, forcing manufacturers to increase discounts, the person added.

"In the past, we only needed to select products from the global models made by our foreign shareholders that we thought were suitable for China, but this approach no longer works," an executive from a JV carmaker said to Yicai. "We must establish localized research and development capabilities to survive."

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev