Japan's new vehicle sales up 33.5% on year in April

• Source: Xinhua
• [17:16 May 06 2010]
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Japan's domestic sales of new vehicles including cars, trucks and buses increased in April from a year earlier by 33.5 percent, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association (JADA) said in a report on Thursday.

According to the association, 222,095 new vehicles were sold in Japan, marking the ninth successive month of increase on year in April.

Sales of cars, excluding 660 cc minivehicles, climbed 36.8 percent to 200,343 units on year in April, the JADA said.

Sales of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles, excluding its high-end Lexus models, jumped 50 percent despite a dented safety image following its global recall of 8.5 million vehicles and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., well known for its Fuga and Teana models, rose 31. 0 percent on year in April.

Meanwhile Honda Motor Co. Ltd., famous for its Accord and Tourer models in Japan, gained 13.3 percent.

For the January to April period the JADA reported a 35.9 percent increase with sales totaling 1,198,640 units.

Independent from JADA's figures, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association said Thursday that sales of minivehicles rose 10.8 percent to 130,370 units in April, marking the fourth consecutive month of growth.

Economists said the rise of new vehicle sales in April has been attributed to government incentives and subsidies for vehicles equipped with or made from 'environmentally responsible' technology or materials, lower toll fees and growing consumer optimism as the economy shows signs of improving.

The JADA measures Japan's monthly domestic vehicle sales by new registrations being filed with the government in any particular month. The figures provide a key indicator of consumer spending and are the first figures of such released each month.