Japan's Honda Motor reported a surprise 15% drop in second-quarter operating profit on Wednesday, missing analysts' expectations as it suffered a heavy sales decline in China. Japan's second-largest automaker said operating profit was 257.9 billion yen ($1.68 billion) in the July-September quarter, marking the company's first year-on-year profit decline in seven quarters. The profit compared to 302.1 billion yen in the same period last year, and the 427.2 billion yen average of seven analyst estimates in an LSEG survey. The company maintained its full-year operating profit forecast of 1.42 trillion yen. It said in presentation materials that its April-September sales result was lower than that of last year mainly due to pressures in China that offset higher vehicle sales in the U.S. and Japan. Honda said last week its global vehicle sales shrank 1.5% to 2.8 million over the first nine months of the year, as a hefty 29% drop in China and a 6% fall in Asia and Oceania outpaced a stronger performance in its major U.S. and Japan markets.