Japan's domestic auto sales fall 28.3% y/y in December

Domestic sales of new vehicles in Japan, excluding those with an engine displacement the same size or smaller than 660cc, fell 28.3 percent in December from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association (JADA) said in a report Wednesday.

Domestic sales of new vehicles totaled 179,666 units in the recording period and marked the sharpest fall for the month of December on record, the report said.

The association said the expiration of the government's subsidy program in September, which had encouraged the purchase of eco- friendly vehicles, was partly responsible for the drop in figures.

December's sales also marked the fourth consecutive month that sales of new vehicles in Japan have declined, the association said.

Toyota, the world's largest carmaker, sold 77,821 vehicles excluding its high-end, Lexus-brand cars, a 33 percent drop, but remained Japan's top-selling brand, followed by Nissan who sold 24, 872 units, a 20.3 percent reduction, the report revealed.

On a positive note, industrywide sales for the whole of 2010 rose 11 percent to 3.23 million as the government incentives boosted demand for eco-friendly models.

Toyota's sales gained 14 percent to 1.57 million for the year, while deliveries at Honda increased 5.1 percent to 486,774. Sales at Nissan Motor Co., Japan's third-largest automaker, grew 7.4 percent to 499,252 vehicles.