Japan's new vehicle market shrank by 2% to 485,379 units in September from strong year-earlier sales of 495,188 units according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
The country's economy has rebounded from a year-on-year decline in the first quarter with annualised growth of 3% in the second quarter. Further strong growth took place in the third quarter, driven by buoyant domestic consumption and exports.
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The market in the first nine months of the year was still 0.9% lower at 4,023,608 units from 4,060,583 units in the same period of last year, reflecting mainly a 1.3% fall in passenger vehicle sales to 3,367,309 units while truck sales increased by 1.7% to 645,783 units.
Medium and heavy-duty bus sales were almost 18% lower at 10,516 units after strong growth in previous years.
Toyota was the main loser in the nine-month period with sales falling by 6.7% to 1,136,986 units, while second-placed Honda saw its volumes rise by 2.4% to 565,410 units; Suzuki 549,537 units (+6%); Daihatsu 486,940 units (+1.3%); Nissan 490,833 units (-1.1%); and Mazda 173,695 units (+4.3%).
