Japan’s new vehicle market continued to decline sharply in November 2019, by almost 13% to 385,859 units from 441,943 units a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
A significant market decline had been largely anticipated for the fourth-quarter of the year, in the wake of the well signalled hike in the general sales tax rate from 8% to 10% at the beginning of October. Revised government data shows economic growth has remained strong this year, with third-quarter GDP growth estimated at 1.7% year-on-year – helped by strong domestic consumption ahead of the sales tax hike.
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Cumulative sales turned negative in November, with the eleven-month total down by 0.7% at 4,850,342 units from 4,442,599 units in the same period of last year. Sales of passenger cars fell by 1.4% to 4,016,814 units in this period, while truck sales rose by 2.5% to 820,925 units and bus sales were up by 1.0% at 12,603 units.
Toyota’s sales rose by 2.9% to 1,439,179 units year-to-date after declining by 5% in the whole of 2018; while second-placed Honda’s sales declined by 1.5% to 682,959 units; Suzuki 648,452 (-2.2%); Daihatsu 618,306 units (+3.4%); Nissan 535,220 units (-7.6%); and Mazda 188,271 units (-8.6%).
