Tokyo motor no-show; Japan snubbed as market shrinks

• Source: Global Times
• [01:35 October 14 2009]
• Comments

But unlike in the US or Europe, the response has been far from dramatic, with sales finally breaking a 13-month decline in September with a modest 0.2 percent rise. Questions also hang over whether the tax incentives will remain in place for three years as planned with a new government in place.

"The government's stimulus should help this year, but beyond that we expect the downward trend to resume," said JP Morgan auto analyst Kohei Takahashi. "There's no question that the importance of the Japanese market is diminishing."

The market's woes have invited the inevitable comparison with China, which this year unseated the US as the world's biggest auto market.

Reuters