Sales of imported vehicles, including those made abroad by Japanese carmakers, rose 8.9% to 321,292 units in the fiscal year ended 31 March.
This pushed imports to a record high share of 9.9% of the Japanese auto market excluding minivehicles, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association.
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Sales of foreign brand cars, trucks and buses increased 10% to 245,679 units, while Japanese brand vehicles were up 5.2% at 75,613 units – numbers bolstered by Nissan’s March [Micra] and Mitsubishi’s Mirage compact models manufactured in Thailand, the association said.
Volkswagen retained top spot, with 57,626 sales, Mercedes-Benz was second with 42,838 units and BMW, third with 41,635 vehicles.
Last month sales of new imported Japanese brand vehicles rose 3.7% to 10,059 vehicles, a 17 year high. Total sales including foreign-brand models climbed 5.6% to 43,804.
