GAC Honda Automobile, a joint venture between Honda and Chinese state-owned automaker GAC Group (601238.SS), began seeking employees this month to leave the company, according to the report.
The roughly 1,700 workers amount to 14% of the production staff at the venture, the Japanese business daily said.
Honda Motor did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Passenger vehicle sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, fell 5.8% in April from a year earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association, amid intensifying price competition and consumers' caution about spending on big items during a shaky economic recovery.
