BEIJING, June 3 (Reuters) - Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd said on Wednesday it sold 102,500 vehicles in China in May, representing what it said was a 0.1 rise percent year-on-year as measured by retail sales.
The May number was the first time the automaker has reported changes in China sales on a wholly retail rather than wholesale basis, and marks the second time it has changed its reporting methodology this year.
The automaker began releasing retail sales data in January, but calculated growth by comparing retail sales to wholesale data for 2014.
A spokeswoman declined to offer immediate comment on why the company changed its methodology twice this year, nor what impact it might have on historic sales trends.
Nissan sales rose 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year as measured by retail sales, a substantial change from the decrease of 2.5 percent it reported for January-April under its previous method of calculation.
(Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)