As its car sales in the largest auto market in the world decline, Honda Motor is reducing the number of full-time production workers it employs in China. As of Wednesday, the Japanese automaker announced that about 1,700 employees had agreed to leave.

According to a Honda representative, GAC Honda Automobile, a joint venture (JV) between Honda and the Chinese state-owned automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group, informed employees earlier this month that it planned to implement voluntary layoffs.

Honda's action represents the most recent blow to Japan's established automakers in China, where they are losing market share due to a fierce price war and the rising dominance of local players like BYD.

Chinese consumers are moving away from internal combustion engine cars and toward plug-in hybrids and electric cars, which are markets where Japanese automakers find it difficult to compete with local rivals.

According to the spokesperson, the approximately 1,700 employees of the Honda venture who chose to retire on their own make up 14% of its production workforce.

According to the spokesperson, the company is deciding how many employees it will allow to retire voluntarily. The total number may differ from the 1,700 employees who have already requested to leave.

Through the partnership that dates back to the late 1990s, Honda runs four factories in China; it also runs three more factories through a separate joint venture with Dongfeng that it established in 2004.

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, sales of passenger vehicles in China, the largest auto market in the world, decreased 5.8% in April compared to the same month last year due to consumers' reluctance to spend large sums of money during an uncertain economic recovery.