Production jumps significantly in 2010, but domestic sales are down over the past few months. Companies remain optimistic, certain a rebound is just around the corner. Toyota loses top spot for sales to Honda.

Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Domestic sales of new automobiles in January fell 21.5 percent on the year to 187,154, excluding mini-vehicles. Sales of passenger cars dropped 23.8 per cent to 167,574 units. Japan's vehicle production in 2010 increased however by 21.3 per cent from the previous year to 9,625,940 units, marking the first rise in three years, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association announced.

The fifth straight month of decline followed an end to government subsidies for purchases of environmentally friendly vehicles in early September. Still manufacturers remain optimistic the decline is at an end. Thanks to the launch of new models, the slide was slower in January than the previous month's 28.3 per cent fall.

For some observers, the comparison suffers from a bias because of a higher base with which new sales are compared since sales had been up 38.8 per cent and 35.1 per cent in January and February 2010 respectively.

Overall, thanks to increased exports to Europe, the United States and emerging markets, vehicle production in 2010 rose by 21.3 per cent to 9,625,940 units, the first rise in three years. Japan's auto exports last year surged 33.8 per cent over 2009. In December though, auto production fell by 5.1 per cent following lower domestic demand.

Unofficial data indicate that for the first time in 20 months Toyota lost the top spot in terms of car sales to Honda, probably as a consequence of the recall of 1.7 million vehicles (1.2 million in Japan alone) due to problems in easily broken fuel lines, which could lead to leakage of gasoline or oil (See “Toyota withdraws 1.7 million vehicles in the world: risk of fuel leaks,” in AsiaNews 26 January 2011).

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• honda
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