Nissan is eyeing lowering production in the market by as much as 30%, while Honda is looking at a 20% cut, Nikkei said.

Nissan is reorganising production bases with Chinese partners and is looking to use excess capacity to produce cars for export to other countries in Asia, Nikkei said.

The emergence of fast-growing Chinese brands has led to a steady loss of market share for foreign rivals in the world's biggest auto market.

Nissan Chief Financial Officer Stephen Ma said last month the company's sales forecast was scaled back due to its performance in China.

(Reporting by Rocky Swift; editing by Alex Richardson and Jason Neely)