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Auto sales sink to 35-year low in Japan

02 March 2009 14:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Japanâ€™s two biggest automakers, led a drop in the countryâ€™s monthly vehicle sales as falling wages and rising unemployment cut demand to the lowest level in 35 years, Bloomberg reports.

Sales of cars, trucks and buses, excluding minicars, fell 32 percent to 218,212 vehicles in February, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement today. Toyotaâ€™s sales slipped 32 percent, Hondaâ€™s slumped 21 percent and Nissan Motor Co., the countryâ€™s No. 3 automaker, sold 35 percent fewer vehicles.

Japanese consumers have slashed spending on cars as Toyota, Sony Corp. and other manufacturers shed workers and curb production on plunging demand. The countryâ€™s economy, the worldâ€™s second-biggest, shrank at the fastest pace since the 1974 oil shock last quarter.
Toyota, which sells four out of every 10 cars in Japan, may cut production by 12 percent to 6.2 million vehicles in the year starting April 1 from its planned 7.08 million this fiscal year, Yuta Kaga, a spokesman, said today by phone.

The company gave the figure to suppliers on Feb. 27. The figure excludes Toyotaâ€™s Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. units. Honda, Japanâ€™s second-largest automaker, cut production in January, both domestically and overseas.

Toyota fell 3.5 percent, the most in more than a month, to 3,070 yen at the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo. Honda slipped 3.1 percent to 2,315 yen and Nissan dropped 3.6 percent to 295 yen.
Including minicars, industrywide sales declined for the seventh straight month in February. The tally fell 24 percent to 380,582 vehicles.

Japanâ€™s workers are earning less as manufacturers slash production. Overtime pay in January fell at the fastest pace ever, the Labor Ministry said today. Monthly wages, including overtime and bonuses, fell 1.3 percent in January, after declining 0.8 percent in December. The countryâ€™s household spending fell the most in more than two years in January, the government said on Feb. 27
Minicars boosted market share to 43 percent of industrywide sales, 7 percentage points more than a year earlier. The cars, which are powered by engines no larger than 0.66 liters, have lower tax and insurance charges.

Sales of minicars declined 9.8 percent to 162,370 units last month, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association said in a separate release today. Daihatsu Motor Co., Japanâ€™s largest minicar maker, sold 7.1 percent fewer minicars and sales for Suzuki Motor Corp., the second-biggest, fell 7.1 percent.