New vehicle sales in Japan plunged 10% to 327,896 units in June 2022 from 365,631 a year earlier, according to data from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Vehicle manufacturers continued to report weak production and sales due to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, with the recent lockdowns in Shanghai causing additional supply-chain shortages. Economic activity was affected by local Covid restrictions earlier in the first quarter and more recently by fast-rising global energy and commodity prices – made worse by the sharp decline in the value of the yen. Household spending dropped for the third consecutive quarter in May.
Vehicle sales in the first half of the year declined 14% to 2,086,178 units from 2,464,586 units a year earlier with passenger vehicle sales falling 16% to 1,712,911 units, including an 18% drop in minicar sales to 602,118 units. Truck sales declined 11% to 370,517 units while sales of buses and coaches plunged 30% to 2,750 units.
Toyota sales fell 19% to 638,050 units in the first half while Honda held on to second place with a sales decline of 8% to 290,753 units, followed by Suzuki with 290,192 units (-16.2%), Daihatsu 269,423 (-15.6%), Nissan 228,614 (-9.3%) and Mazda 79,067 (-12.6%).
Sales of imported vehicles were down 15% to 116,425 units year to date.