Japan's new vehicle market continued to decline sharply in May 2020, with sales plunging by almost 45% to 218,285 units from 396,120 units a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

While the market had already been in decline since the government hiked the general sales tax rate from 8% to 10% last October, the falls in the last two months showed the full impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the country's vehicle market. Data released by the government last month confirmed Japan slipped into recession in the first quarter of 2020, with GDP shrinking by 3.4% year on year due to plunging domestic consumption and exports. 

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All major automakers in Japan made significant production cuts in previous months, including Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki, Daihatsu and Mitsubishi, in response to plunging global demand and measures introduced by the Japanese government to help prevent the local spread of the disease.

Vehicle sales in the first five months of the year declined by 19.2% to 1,860,404 units compared with 2,303,022 units a year earlier. Passenger car sales fell by 19.6% to 1,542,089 units, while truck sales were down by 17.2% at 313,021 units and bus sales declined by 16% to 5,294 units.

Sales of minivehicles were the worst hit, with sales plunging by 21.2% to 675,567 units. 

Toyota was one of the best-performing major brands in the market in the first five months of the year, with sales falling by just 12.6% to 581,199 units; while Honda reported a 21.2% decline to 264,871 units; Suzuki 242,855 units (-25.0%); Daihatsu 231,020 (-20.6%); Nissan 196,381 units (-24.8%); and Mazda 78,905 units (-12.4%).

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Sales of imported vehicles fell by almost 46% to 12,554 units in May, with Mercedes-Benz sales down by almost 41% at 2,694 units; BMW 1,706 units (-53.9%); Volkswagen 1,605 units (-57.4%); and Audi 1,072 units (45.7%).

Cumulative fivemonth import sales were down by 20.9% at 93,300 units.