Toyota introduces to new minivans, the Alphard and the Vellfire, in Japan

In order to cope with the lower car sales in Japan, the country's largest car company, Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO:7203), has introduced to new minivans in Japan. This year, the company observed a sales drop of 2.4% in Japan. The two minivans-Alphard and the Vellfire, will cost the same; between 3 million ($29,000)-4.5 million yen. The Alphard was first introduced in 2002 and it has been revamped for the first time. With these two models Toyota is going to compete with Elysion of Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO:7267) and Elgrand of Nissan Motor Company Limited (TYO:7201). Toyota is expecting to sell 3000 units per month. Bloomberg reports:

Toyota needs to spur sales in Japan with new models as the market has one of the shortest model cycles of any country, according to analysts. Including the revamped Crown sedan in February, the Toyota City, Japan-based company has introduced three new models domestically so far this year.

The company plans to raise domestic sales 0.6 percent to 1.6 million vehicles this year, it said in December. Toyota's sales in the country, which accounts for about 19 percent of the carmaker's total sales, rose for the first time in five months in April.

Last week, Toyota announced a drop in its net income for the first time in nine years in the USA, the largest and most profitable market of Toyota. The company is planning more cost cuts to balance the higher raw material prices.

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Japan automobile sales rise in April: Toyota and Nissan take the lead

An extra selling day and a temporary tax break boosted the car sales in Japan for the month of April. Nissan Motor Company saw a rise in the sale of its mid-size passenger cars. Its redesigned X-Trail was the champion. Toyota Motor Corporation’s Crown Sedan was at the top of the sales chart. Hiroshima based Mazda Motor Corporation experienced a 5.9% rise selling 12,626 vehicles. Bloomberg reports:

Sales of cars, trucks and buses rose 6.9 percent to 232,993 vehicles from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement today. The total excludes minicars.

Redesigned models including Nissan's X-Trail sport-utility vehicle and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Crown sedan helped boost sales of mid-sized and large cars by 21 percent. Some consumers also took advantage of lower taxes as the rate on cars fell to 3 percent from 5 percent for the month after the government failed to agree on a tax package.

``Some car buyers waited until the beginning of April or rushed in by the end of the month to take advantage of the lower rate,'' said Takeshi Fushimi, director of the dealers' association, who also cited the extra selling day as a major factor for the bump in passenger car sales.

Unfortunately, the month was not good for the mini car makers. For the last four years, car sales has been declining in Japan. According to Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, the sales will drop by 1.2% in 2008. Last month, the country observed a massive price rise due to rising prices of oil and food. The worst time was last year when the vehicle sales was the lowest in Japan in the last 35 years due to higher prices and stagnant wages.

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Bloomberg

Nissan Motor Company: Aiming for emerging markets

Nissan Motor Company’s CEO Carlos Ghosn told the reporters on Thursday that the car market in most of the developed countries would stabilize by 2010. He said that auto makers should focus on emerging markets. According to Ghosn, US auto market will experience recession in 2008 and stabilize by 2009-10. Reuters reports:

"Japan at best will see stagnation, West Europe at best stagnation, the U.S. is slumping in 2008 and at best in 2009-2010, we will see stabilisation," he told a news conference.

"The growth will come from emerging markets."

Ghosn, also head of Nissan's majority shareholder Renault SA (RENA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), repeated that the two companies remained open to expanding their alliance to a third member but that they were in no rush.

Two years ago, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian proposed an alliance with General Motors Corporation. Nissan’s recent deal with Chrysler again sparked the alliance rumor but Ghosn said that it was an OEM (original equipment manufacturing) deal.

Japan’s third largest auto maker is now entering the next phase of its business. On May 13, it will disclose its new five year business plan. Carlos did not disclose any detail but he said that the company is re-engineered and restructured and now it is ready to compete again.

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Reuters