Four of Japan’s five top automakers increased their domestic sales in the first half of fiscal 2005, according to Kyodo News.


Nissan Motor registered a 14.5% sales rise in the April-September first half from a year before to 420,937 units, while Honda’s sales grew 3.1% to 361,797 units.


Mazda saw its sales increase 4.5% to 141,056 units, and Mitsubishi scored a 12.0% gain in sales to 107,421 units but Toyota domestic sales declined by 1.1% to 804, 996 units, the news agency said, noting that four of the five automakers reported gains in exports, while Nissan saw a decline of 11.1%.


Kyodo News said overseas output increased 20.8% at Toyota, 19.3% at Nissan and 12.7% at Honda but fell 15.4% at Mazda and 14.2% at Mitsubishi.