Japan Feb new vehicle sales fall for 20th straight month - UPDATE |
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Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:50
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TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses fell for the 20th straight month in February, with more Japanese consumers preferring the fuel-efficient mini vehicles to ordinary automobiles as gasoline prices stayed high, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said.The drop in vehicle sales was also partly attributed to the increased use of cellular phones, which account for the bulk of fixed household costs in Japan.The industry body said sales of new vehicles last month fell 8.7 pct year-on-year to 322,446 vehicles.Car sales last month were down 7.7 pct year-on-year at 281,829, while sales of buses fell 4.4 pct to 1,462 and truck sales dropped 15.6 pct to 39,155.Separately, the Japan Mini Vehicle Association reported that domestic sales of mini vehicles last month rose 0.6 pct from a year earlier to 182,670, increasing for the 14th straight month.Sales of standard-size cars at Japan's largest automaker Toyota Motor Corp dropped 9.7 pct to 149,561 vehicles, while sales at second-ranked Nissan Motor Co fell by 11.7 pct to 60,178 and at third-ranked Honda Motor Co the decline was 4.7 pct to 33,815.However, sales of Toyota's high-end Lexus model shot up by 236.1 pct to 3,364.Sales at fourth-largest automaker Mitsubishi Motor Corp rose 6.4 pct to 8,552.But elsewhere in the industry sales sagged. Mazda Motor Corp saw sales drop 8.9 pct to 18,205 vehicles and at Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru brand cars, sales shrank 14.6 pct to 57,832 vehicles.Sales at Japan's largest truck maker Isuzu Motors Corp fell 26.2 pct to 5,262 trucks, while truck sales at Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp declined 16.2 pct to 3,909.Sales at Nissan Diesel Motor Co Ltd, now controlled by Volvo, dropped 15.8 pct to 1,371 vehicles and at Hino Motors, a Toyota subsidiary, they dropped by 13.9 pct to 3,631.Among makers of mini vehicles, sales at Suzuki Motor Corp fell 3.2 pct to 57,502 units as the Shizuoka-based automaker is shifting its focus to high-margin compact cars.Sales at Daihatsu Motor Co, another Toyota unit, increased 8.7 pct to 59,138 cars, giving it the largest 32.4 pct share of the market, beating Suzuki's 31.5 pct.Despite the decline in February sales, Suzuki held to its rank as the largest mini vehicle supplier for the whole of 2006, controlling 30.2 pct of the domestic market, ahead of Daihatsu's 29.7 pct share.(1 usd = 118.23 yen)yasuhiko.seki@xfn.comkaori.kaneko@xfn.com
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Japan Feb new vehicle sales drop 8.7 pct yr-on-yr, down for 20th straight month 