New car sales in Japan brisk in '12, but plunge in China

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN AND WIRE REPORTS, January 08, 2013

Sales of new vehicles in Japan in 2012 exceeded the number of units sold the previous year for the first time in two years, topping 5 million units for the first time in four years.

But Japan's three biggest automakers--Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.--all reported plummeting sales in China in the year due to the dispute over the Senkaku Islands, which prompted a boycott of Japanese products by Chinese consumers.

Domestic new vehicle sales last year totaled 5,369,721 units, up 27.5 percent from 2011, according to reports issued Jan. 7 by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Mini Vehicles Association.

Sales of automobiles, excluding minivehicles, grew a record 26.1 percent year on year since record-keeping began in 1968, to 3,390,274 units--the first rise in two years.

Sales of minivehicles were up 30.1 percent year on year to 1,979,447 units, also the first increase in two years.

A Toyota dealer in Fukuoka Prefecture shows off the new Toyota Spade. Japanese automakers enjoyed brisk sales in 2012, thanks in part to government subsidies for eco-friendly automobiles. 

The number was the second highest after 2.02 million units in 2006. Honda, which made a full entry into the minivehicle market at the end of 2011, marked a sharp rise to more than 320,000 units, around 2.5 times the figure for the previous year.

Brisk domestic sales in 2012 were attributed to a rebound from large drops after the Great East Japan Earthquake and massive flooding in Thailand in 2011, as well as the government subsidy program for eco-friendly cars.

In China, Toyota said its sales fell 4.9 percent in 2012 to 840,500 vehicles, the first annual decline since at least 2001. Nissan's sales dropped 5.3 percent to 1,181,500 vehicles, the first decline since it set up a joint venture with a local partner in 2003.

Honda's sales in China fell 3.1 percent to 598,576 vehicles, its second consecutive decline.

Domestic sales in Japan slowed in September after the central government ended its subsidy program.

New vehicle sales in December were down 3.1 percent from the same month a year earlier, to 338,504 units.

The monthly numbers were lower than those of the previous year for September through December. Industry analysts are unsure when sales will start picking up.