Japan observes lower vehicle sales for the second month as fuel price has risen

The downward trend in auto sales is continuing for the second consecutive month in Japan as the price of gasoline has risen. According to The Japan Automobile Dealers Association, in June, excluding minivehicles, sales of new cars, trucks and buses, fell by 3.6% to 281,261 units. In May, it rose by 6.1%. In June, car sales went down by 1.8% to 242,792 units, buses 3.5% to 1,198 units, and trucks 13.7% to 37,271 units. Forbes reports:

For the first half of 2008, sales of new vehicles fell 0.9 percent to 1.77 million units. Car sales rose 1.0 percent to 1.55 million units, sales of buses fell 2.8 percent to 8,715 units and truck sales dropped 13.1 percent to 213,503 units.

Separately, the Japan Minivehicle Association said that domestic sales of new minivehicles fell 2.8 percent to 165,730 units, marking the 15th consecutive month of decline.

Eight of the 12 Japanese automakers registered lower sales in May. Japan’s largest auto maker, Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) observed a rise of 0.5% to 124,866 units. Sales of high-end lexus fell to 2095 units. Honda Motor Company (TYO: 7267) is the only exception among all the automakers that has been seeing a rise in sales for the 8^th consecutive month.

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Forbes