Four of Japan’s five top car makers boosted overseas production in February, with three posting all time-highs for the month, due to strong demand in North America and other parts of the world, data released on Friday showed.

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The Toyota group, comprising Toyota Motor, Daihatsu and Hino, registered the highest overseas production for any February as did Honda and Nissan Motor, Kyodo News analysis showed.


Overseas production by the Toyota group jumped 21.9% to 383,888 units and Honda’s output abroad leapt 21.4% to 226,421 units. Nissan’s overseas production was up 5.3% to 181,558 units while Mitsubishi Motors gained 1.9% outside Japan to 41,697 units.


Ford affiliate Mazda was the only one whose overseas output plunged last month, rolling out 20.9% fewer vehicles to 24,492 units due to the end of the production of Familia (323) and Premacy models in China.


Domestic output at the Toyota group and Mitsubishi also marked the highest ever records for the month, posting a 5.7% increase to 476,829 units and 17.7% to 86,909 units, respectively, Kyodo News noted. Nissan also reported a 27.6% increase to 140,699 units and Mazda a 28.8% gain to 102,479 units. Domestic output at Honda fell 8.1% to 106,142 units.

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All five car makers saw increases in worldwide production. Honda and Nissan turned out 332,563 and 322,257 units, respectively, both all-time highs for February and up 10.2% and 14.0%, respectively.


Global production also rose 12.4% to 860,717 units at the Toyota group, 12.1% to 128,606 units at Mitsubishi, and 14.9% to 126,971 units at Mazda.


Looking at domestic sales, Honda posted a gain of 13.6% to 57,631 units, and Mazda boosted volume by 5.9% to 24,900 units.


In contrast, sales in Japan fell 1.7% to 21,382 units at the Toyota group, 1.0% to 76,437 units at Nissan, and 8.0% to 20,528 units at Mitsubishi.


The Toyota group reported a 7.3% increase to 247,482 units in exports from Japan, Nissan a 48.9% jump to 75,184 units, and Mitsubishi a 29.2% expansion to 53,012 units. Mazda exported 79,896 units, up 28.0%, but Honda incurred a 10.8% fall to 47,179 units, Kyodo News added.