Japan's new vehicle market expanded by 7.4% to 484,724 units in February, from weak year-earlier sales of 451,328 units, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
In the first two months of the year, sales expanded by 6.3% to 886,374 units from 834,203 in the same period of last year, driven by strong demand for passenger vehicles. Passenger car sales expanded by 6.4% to 756,739 units on strong demand for compact cars and subcompact models.
Truck sales increased by 5.4% to 127,281 units in this period while bus sales were just 0.8% higher at 2,354 units – after growing strongly last year.
Toyota reported a 17.6% sales rise to 261,961 units over the two month period, with February sales jumping by 29%. Honda followed with a 5% sales rise to 126,271 units while Nissan sales totalled 121,485 (+7.1%); Suzuki 113,534 (+8.3%); Daihatsu 103,142 (-3.6%); and Mazda 36,441 (-14.4%).
