All but one of Japan’s top-five automakers boosted production worldwide in May over a year earlier, according to data released by the five companies Thursday.
Toyota Motor Corp. said output at its plants worldwide rose 12.8% to 415,574 units — 257,872 produced domestically, up 12.4% for the 10th consecutive month of rise, and 157,302 units overseas, up 13.3% for the first rise in two months.
A Toyota official said there were signs of a recovery in demand in the domestic market, while the North American and Asian markets continued to be firm.
Nissan Motor Co. reported a 22.7% growth in global output to 214,044 units, with 99,168 units produced domestically, up 9.7%, and 114,876 overseas, up 36.6%.
Honda Motor Co. logged a 13.1% increase in production to 203,883 units on a completed-unit basis. Its domestic output rose 15.7% to 91,881 units, including 1,880 “complete knocked-down units” — each of which contains more than 60% of parts needed for a vehicle — and overseas production totaled 113,882 units, up 10.6%.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. posted 19.0% growth in production to 145,916 units, with domestic output at 73,865, up 8.5%, and overseas production at 72,051, up 32.2%.
Mazda Motor Corp., however, reported a 1.1% fall in its worldwide output in May to 66,882 units, with domestic production falling 1.4% to 55,470 and overseas output edging up 0.7% to 11,412.
All reported growth in both domestic sales and in exports, except Mazda, which posted declines in both categories.
Domestic sales rose 6.1% at Toyota to 127,794 units, 5.4% at Nissan to 48,004 units, 19.7% at Honda to 50,803 units and 4.6% at Mitsubishi Motors to 38,926 units.
Exports grew 5.9% at Toyota to 120,076 units, 15.7% at Nissan to 47,837 units, 8.3% at Honda to 40,007 units and 41.3% at Mitsubishi Motors to 33,506 units.
Mazda reported a 1.5% drop in domestic sales to 23,800 units, and a 25.1% decline in exports to 29,278 units.
