Japan's new vehicle market continued to grow in July, by 2.9% to 427,549 units from 415,615 sales a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
The positive market performance follows a strong second quarter for the Japanese economy with preliminary figures showing annual GDP growth of around 4%, driven by a pick up in consumer spending and investment growth.
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In the first seven months of the year, the country's vehicle market expanded by 8.3% to 3,210,090 units compared with 2,962,954 units in the same period of last year, reflecting strong demand for passenger vehicles.
Passenger vehicle sales increased by 9% to 2,703,901 units in the seven month period, driven by particularly strong demand for compact and subcompact models. Truck sales increased by 4.9% to 496,277 units while bus sales were 7.4% higher at 9,912 units – after exceptionally strong growth last year.
Toyota enjoyed an 8.1% sales rise to 976,525 units in the seven month period, with Honda following in second place with a 1.9% increase to 432,005 units. Suzuki's sales amounted to 413,444 units (+8.4%); Nissan 395,152 units (+23.5%); Daihatsu 383,212 units (+8.2%); and Mazda 128,934 units (+3.6%).
