New vehicle sales in Japan fell by 14.5% to 369,460 units in December, from 431,919 units a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
The vehicle market last month was driven lower mainly by a sharp decline in mini-vehicle sales, of close to 35% to 130,376 units from 199,960 units in December 2014.
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Overall vehicle sales fell by 9.3% to 5,046,511 units last year, with passenger vehicle sales declining by 10.3% to 4,215,889 units and truck sales falling by 4.0% to 817,235 units. The medium and large bus and coach segment was higher last year, however, by 11.7% at 13,387 units.
Sales of mini-vehicles declined by 16.6% to 1,896,201 units from 2,272,790 units previously.
Toyota sales fell by 4% to 1,449,067 units last year, while second-placed Honda saw its sales fall by 14.4% to 726,928 units; Suzuki 636,360 units (-19.2%); Daihatsu 610,396 units (-13.8%); Nissan 589,099 units (-12.1%); and Mazda 245,437 units (+9.4%).
