HONDA Motor Co.’s line-up of small sports utility vehicles gave it the edge over Ford Motor Co. in the world’s biggest auto market last year, according to China sales figures released by the Japanese and U.S. automakers Friday.

    Ford’s sales in China rose 3 percent year on year in 2015 while Honda’s recorded a 32.5 percent sales increase for the year, the automakers said.

    The diverging paths largely come down to Honda’s fresher line up of in-demand SUVs, having launched two in late 2014, helping it to post big sales gains despite China’s slowest economic expansion in 25 years. By comparison, Ford’s smaller EcoSport and Kuga SUVs were launched in China in early 2013.

    Ford and its Chinese joint venture partner sold 124,768 vehicles in December, a 27 percent increase year on year that helped lift the U.S. automakers otherwise flat sales for January to November. The company sold 1.12 million vehicles for the year.

    Honda and its JV partners sold 137,579 vehicles in the final month of the year, up 29.1 percent from the previous year. The Japanese automaker had flagged the results Monday with a statement that it sold more than 1 million cars in China last year.

    Neither automaker gave a forecast for 2016 sales. Ford ranks 6th in passenger cars in China while the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers did not include Honda in its ranking.

    The world’s largest auto market is expected to have grown 3 percent in 2015, with the chief of China’s automakers association forecasting 5-7 percent growth for 2016.(SD-Agencies)