Japan's automakers have a made-in-China sales crisis

Japan's automakers have a made-in-China sales crisis

Visitors look at a Honda Motor Co's car displayed outside the company showroom in Tokyo April 26, 2013.

Japan’s automakers are facing a sales crisis in China, data shows, as a rapid shift to electric vehicles (EVs) has upended the world’s largest auto market and led to a plunge in purchases of gasoline-powered cars.