Japanese domestic market car sales fell to a 35-year low last year due to high petrol prices, limited income growth and shrinking demand, according to an industry group.
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Sales of new cars, trucks and buses declined 7.6% to 3.434m vehicles in 2007, according to a Japan Automobile Dealers’ Association statement cited by the Associated Press (AP). The figures do not include sales of minicars and minitrucks which have their own dealer groups.
The result, the fourth straight annual decline, was the lowest since 1972, when sales reached 3.406m.
AP said that the data showed that the world’s third-biggest car market has been slow to respond to new models. For example, Toyota introduced nine new models from May but estimated a 6% drop in its domestic sales in 2007.
December sales were off 7.1% year on year to 236,142 vehicles, down for the first time in three months, the association said, while the outlook remained gloomy.
The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, has estimated 2008 domestic sales – excluding minivehicles – down 0.2% from 2007, AP added.
