The new year began well for Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in China as the Japanese brands registered hefty year-on-year sales increases in January.

Mazda’s local deliveries advanced 36 percent to 33,956 vehicles last month. The increase resulted from strong demand for the Mazda CX-4 crossover and the Mazda6 Atenza sedan. Both models achieved record monthly sales in China, said Mazda’s China office, without disclosing sales for the vehicles.

Also last month, Mitsubishi’s China deliveries soared 96 percent to 15,682, according to GAC Motor Co., the brand’s joint venture partner.

This month, three major Japanese automakers -- Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. -- also reported double-digit January sales growth in China. Nissan deliveries rose 13 percent year on year to 135,037 while Toyota sales jumped 25 percent to 127,500 and Honda deliveries increased 11 percent to 126,174.