Japan’s new vehicle sales – other than minivehicles – dropped 6.1% in May from the previous year to 221,377 units partly as the tax rate for vehicle purchases returned to 5% from April’s provisionally lowered rate of 3%.
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The Japan Automobile Dealers Association (JADA) said passenger car sales fell 4.4% to 190,695 units, while truck sales declined 16% to 29,659 units.
Kyodo reported that the rate of the tax on the purchase price of vehicles returned to the original 5% from the provisional rate of 3%, as the ruling coalition voted to endorse the increase in the House of Representatives’ session on April 30 amid a parallel parliamentary row over a gasoline tax.
During the month of April, when the ruling coalition appeared poised to bring back the auto purchase tax rate to the higher rate effective May 1, consumers move forward the timing of auto purchases, the association said.
In terms of engine size, sales of cars of over 2000 cc rose 3.3% to 84,857 units, while those of cars of smaller engines dropped 9.7% to 105,838 units.
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By GlobalDataFour of the five major Japanese automakers — Toyota Motor Corp., Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. — saw year-on-year sales falls during May, while Honda Motor Co. saw sales rise.
Meanwhile, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association said that sales of minivehicles of up to 660cc also fell 2.8% to 139,147 units, for the 14th consecutive monthly fall.
