Japan sales of new imported vehicles climb 41.2% in Feb.

Sales of new imported vehicles climbed 41.2 percent in February from a year earlier, data released Friday by the Japan Automobile Importers Association showed.

According to the association, sales of new imported vehicles in February, including Japanese brands manufactured overseas, totaled 20,376 units, marking the 16th consecutive month of year-on-year increase.

Helped by a spike in imports of Nissan Motor Co.'s March minicar, sales of Japanese-brand vehicles surged 344.9 percent to 6,193 units, whiles sales of foreign-brand cars, trucks and buses for the domestic market rose 8.8 percent to 14,183 units, marking the second straight month of rise, the association said.

Having stopped producing its top selling March minicar in Japan and moving operations to Thailand, Nissan sold 14,183 units in the recording period, to claim a 22.9 percent share of the market, compared to a meager 16 units sold during the same period a year earlier.

Volkswagen, on robust sales of its Golf and Polo models, claimed second place in the rankings with sales of 3,697 units, although slipping 4.8 percent from a year before and Mercedes-Benz took the third spot with sales of 2,249 units, rising 1.9 percent from a a year earlier, the data showed.