New vehicle sales in Japan rose 12.6% year on year in October, the highest margin of growth in 12 years and nine months, helped partly by government tax breaks and subsidies for eco-friendly cars, an industry body said on Monday.
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The Japan Automobile Dealers Association said sales of new vehicles excluding minivehicles totaled 263,506 units and the margin of rise was the biggest since 14.9% was recorded in January 1997, according to Kyodo News.
The sharp rise in October followed a sales plunge in the previous year after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008, it said.
But, despite the rise in sales, up for a third consecutive month, the association said a full-scale recovery was not in sight.
”The rise was due to government support measures and a rebound” from the low level a year earlier, an association official told Kyodo.
By vehicle category, sales of new standard-size passenger cars with engines over 2000 cc increased 23.4% to 108,234 units, the second highest level for the month of October since 1968, when comparable data became available. Sales of smaller cars rose 15.5% to 132,727 units.
Sales of small trucks fell 27.8% to 14,566 units, a record low for an October.
Honda Motor sales rose 29.9% while Toyota was up 13.8%, excluding Lexus models. Mazda Motor saw its first rise in 13 months – 11.8%.
Meanwhile, sales of new minivehicles with engine displacements of up to 660 cc fell 8.9% to 132,542 units, down for the 12th consecutive month, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association said.
