Japan’s Economy: Toyota, Honda and Nissan lost sales, only Suzuki increased

 

New car sales in Japan decreased by 16.0% in August year on year

According to the announcement by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, the new car sales in Japan in August decreased by 16.0% from the same month of the previous year. 

Decrement in sales below the previous year's level is continuing for 11 consecutive months. Customers refrained from going out and avoided to visit car dealers too. Dealers shortened their business hours to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection. 

Those prevention measures caused sales from January to August to decrease by 18.6% to 2,930,558 units leaving all Japanese automobile manufacturers in a stringent business environment. 

In particular, Isuzu (50.1% decrease), Mitsubishi Motors (45.3% decrease), Nissan (26.4% decrease) and Honda (24.5% decrease) continue to lose their sales by double digits in August. Toyota Motor was down 9.2% and Mazda was down 3.0%. Suzuki was the only company to increase sales, up 7.1% in the month. 

On the other hand, the ratio of deterioration has been gradually shrinking from the 40.2% decrease recorded in May. Manufacturers are expecting that the situation will continue to improve steadily.

Japan's current account surplus down with firms receiving fewer dividends from overseas subsidiaries

Looking at overseas market, sales of Japanese manufacturers also continue to decline. Four Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor announced that units of new cars sold in the United States in August were about 410,000, down 21% from the same month of the previous year, falling below the previous year's level for 6 consecutive months. 

The ordeal of Japan's automobile industry which has been the driving force of Japan’s economy is affecting the country's balance of payment. The current account in July deteriorated by 27.4% from the same month of the previous year although it maintained a surplus of 1,468.3 billion yen. 

The trade balance came to a surplus in July and August in a row, respectively 137.3 billion yen and 248.3 billion yen thanks to a tailwind of declining crude oil prices. However, Japan's exports have been posting double-digit slump for a sixth straight month to August as the global economy remains stagnant.