Japan’s new vehicle market continued its strong recovery in June 2023 with sales rising 20% to 392,719 units from 327,896 a year earlier, according to registration data from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
This was the 10th consecutive month of growth for the market after a long period of decline, helped by improved semiconductor supplies compared with last year which enabled key vehicle manufacturers to significantly increase output. Second quarter GDP growth was expected to have remained strong in the second quarter, following growth of 2.7% year on year in the first quarter, driven by strong consumer spending and fixed investment.
In the first half of the year, the vehicle market expanded 17% to 2,450,600 units after declining 15% to 2,086,178 a year earlier with passenger vehicle sales rising 20% to 2,047,694 units while truck sales increased 8% to 399,013. Sales of buses and coaches surged 42% to 3,893 units in this period, as the segment rebounded from the pandemic lows.
Toyota sales increased 30% to 826,865 units year to date following severe supply chain shortages last year while Suzuki sales rose 14% to 329,465 units, Daihatsu 312,178 (+16%), Honda 282,016 (-3%), Nissan 250,705 (+10%) and Mazda 99,770 (+26%).
