Japan's new vehicle market slipped by 1.7% to 372,470 units in October from 378,740 sales a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
This is the first monthly decline this year amid strong economic growth in the country. Second quarter GDP growth came in at 2.5% year-on-year, driven by rising consumer spending and investment growth.
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In the first ten months of the year new vehicle sales increased by just over 6.7% to 4,433,053 units compared with 4,155,124 units in the same period of last year, reflecting particularly strong demand for passenger vehicles.
Passenger vehicle sales increased by 7.2% to 3,723,365 units in the ten-month period, driven by strong demand for mini and sub-compact models. Truck sales increased by 3.8% to 695,932 units, while bus sales were 4.7% higher at 13,756 units.
Toyota's sales increased by 4.8% to 1,337,819 units in the January-October period, followed by Honda with a 2.8% increase to 610,798 units. Suzuki's sales amounted to 567,416 units (+7.2%); Nissan 518,344 units (+17.8%); Daihatsu 532,443 units (+8.5%); and Mazda 180,590 units (+3.5%).
