Japanese automakers' U.S. sales slid mostly sideways last year, but their China business is booming. Two manufacturers, Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., finally are selling more vehicles in the world’s biggest market than in the United States. Last year, Mazda’s passenger vehicle sales in China grew 8.3 percent to 309,407 vehicles, while its U.S. sales slid 2.8 percent. Mitsubishi’s sales in China also eclipsed those in the U.S., growing 56 percent to 129,

Deliveries of all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids jumped 53 percent year on year to 777,000 vehicles in 2017 with the aid of government subsidies. Automakers sold 652,000 all-electric vehicles and 125,000 plug-in hybrids, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Among the battery EV sales, 468,000 were passenger vehicles and 184,000 were commercial vehicles. Of the plug-in hybrids, 111,000 were passenger vehicles and 14,000 were commercial vehicles.