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Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Japan’s two biggest automakers, led the tenth straight increase in the nation’s monthly auto sales as government incentives boosted demand, Bloomberg News reported.
Sales of cars, trucks and buses, excluding minicars, rose 28 percent to 228,514 vehicles in May from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement today. Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, sold 112,174 units, excluding Lexus-brand cars, up 39 percent.
Japan’s auto sales began recovering from a year-long slide in August as government rebates and tax cuts for fuel-efficient vehicles rekindled demand. The incentives helped raise sales by about 600,000 vehicles last year and may increase them by about 900,000 this calendar year, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said in December.
“Car sales, especially of hybrids, have been doing very well because of the incentives,” said Yoshiaki Kawano, an analyst at auto consulting company CSM Worldwide Inc. in Tokyo. “Some carmakers are waiting until after the program expires to bring out new models to offset the expected drop.”
May sales rose 16 percent at Honda, while Nissan Motor Co., the nation’s third-largest automaker, sold 9 percent more vehicles.
Under a government program started in June, consumers in Japan can apply for a rebate of as much 250,000 yen ($2,747) subsidy if they scrap a car more than 13 years old to buy a new one, and 100,000 yen for a new car purchased without scrapping an old one. The program expires at the end of September.
Electric, hybrid, natural-gas, and some diesel vehicles also qualify for an exemption from the country’s weight and purchase taxes.
Japan’s vehicle sales may fall 4.9 percent to 4.65 million units for the fiscal year that began April 1 as the government subsidy program’s expiration discourages buyers, according to the automakers association.
Toyota shares fell 0.8 percent to 3,255 yen as of 2:05 p.m., while shares of Honda dropped 0.6 percent to 2,754 yen in Tokyo. Nissan shares fell 1.7 percent to 653 yen.
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