Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Japan’s two largest carmakers, slowed the decline in domestic auto sales last month as their new hybrid models and government incentives boosted demand.
Sales of cars, trucks and buses, excluding minicars, fell 14 percent to 243,342 vehicles, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement today. Toyota sold 110,677 units excluding Lexus brand cars, down 11 percent. Honda posted a 5.7 percent gain, and Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third-largest automaker, sold 21 percent fewer units.
The pace of decline in auto sales slowed last month from 29 percent in April and 19 percent in May, as government subsidies and tax cuts helped boost sales of Toyota’s new Prius and Honda’s Insight gasoline-electric hybrid cars. Monthly sales may flip to a year-on-year increase as early as August, according to auto consulting company CSM Worldwide.
“The subsidies and tax cuts are kicking in,” said Yoshiaki Kawano, a CSM analyst in Tokyo. “The numbers will improve as gasoline prices were surging around this time last year, putting a damper on car sales.”
Toyota on June 25 said it has booked 200,000 domestic orders for the third-generation Prius, introduced in May. It was Japan’s best-selling standard car that month, surpassing Honda’s Insight.
Under a government program started June 19, consumers can apply for a 250,000 yen ($2,600) subsidy if they scrap a car more than 13 years old to buy a new one and 100,000 yen for a new car purchase without scrapping an old one.
Car dealers have distributed 260,000 applications for the subsidies, Takeshi Fushimi, director of the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, told reporters today. The subsidies are available retroactively for purchases from April 10.
* June 2009 Auto Sales: Toyota Leads Japan Output Drop
* June 2009 Auto Sales: Signals of Auto Recovery
* June 2009 U.S. Auto Sales: GM, Toyota, Ford Lead Top 10 Million Rate
The government expects the incentives to lead to the sale of an additional 690,000 vehicles this fiscal year. Electric, hybrid, natural gas, and some diesel vehicles also qualify for an exemption from the country’s weight and purchase taxes.
Still, domestic sales are expected to be the worst in three decades, as wages fell for a 12th straight month and the jobless rate rose to a five-year high in May. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association predicts domestic industrywide sales will drop 8.5 percent to 4.3 million units in the year ending March.
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June 2009 Auto Sales: Toyota, Honda Hybrids Narrow Drop in Japan
3:56 AM — Doncrack — 0 comments — Labels: 2009 Auto Sales, 2010 Honda Insight, 2010 Toyota Prius, Honda Sales, Japan Automotive, Toyota Sales
July GM Incentives 2009 to Push 'Cash For Clunkers'
3:12 AM — Doncrack — 0 comments — Labels: 2009 Car Incentives, Bankruptcy, GM Incentives, GM Sales, Old ClunkerGeneral Motors Corp. looking to bolster sales as it prepares for a new start out of bankruptcy protection, will free financing on many vehicles for six days starting Wednesday.
The auto maker also plans to begin urging customers to capitalize on the recently passed "Cash for Clunkers" legislation that gives car buyers up to $4, 500 to trade in aged gas-guzzlers for new cars and trucks. The company's campaign will be called "Buy and Say Goodbye." Money for the clunkers program won't likely be available until late July, but GM wants to get customers thinking about a trade now, company spokesman John McDonald said.
GM's free-financing offer, a deal it has resuscitated several times amid a severe slump in U.S. auto sales, will apply to many 2009 and 2010 model year vehicles, including large pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles and the entire Pontiac line. GM is winding down Pontiac as parts of its Chapter 11 restructuring.
GM's sales are down 42% through May, sharper than the industry's 37% decline. Major auto makers will release Wednesday June sales results, which are expected to show some signs that the auto market has begun to stabilize.
Car makers have struggled to woo jittery, cash-strapped consumers despite offering generous deals.
GM's sale, though it runs six days, will be dubbed as a 72-hour holiday sale since dealers will, on average, be open only 72 of those hours because of the Holiday weekend, McDonald said. McDonald didn't disclose GM's incentive plans for later in July, but said "you can certainly anticipate we'll be offering reduced rate financing" at that time. It is unclear whether that will include 0% financing for 72-month loans on certain vehicles.
Ford Motor Co. also has begun to tout the clunkers program with a slogan, "Let Ford recycle your ride." Under the program, a vehicle qualifies for trade- in if it is a 1984 model or newer and gets no more than 18 miles per gallon. The replacement vehicle must have improved fuel economy.
