Japan's new vehicle market bounced by 3.2% to 366,155 units in April from 354,747 units a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
The increase follows six months of declining sales from relatively high year-earlier levels after the country posted its longest period of uninterrupted economic growth since the boom years of the 1980s in the fourth quarter of last year.
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Despite last month's moderate rebound in vehicle sales, economic growth looks to have peaked in the current cycle – with business confidence beginning to ebb in the first quarter.
Sales in the first four months of the year were still 1.3% lower at 1,906,848 units from 1,932,496 units a year earlier, with passenger vehicle sales falling by 1.8% to 1,608,937 units while truck sales increased by 1.4% to 292,330 units. Medium and heavy-duty bus sales were 11.5% lower at 5,581 units after particularly strong growth in previous years.
Toyota's sales fell by 7.8% to 529,531 units in the four-month period, while second-placed Honda's saw its volume rise by 1.5% to 271,480 units, Nissan 242,731 units (-2.8%); Suzuki 256,622 units (+2.8%); Daihatsu 236,876 units (+6.5%); and Mazda 84,815 units (+3.1%).
