Vehicle sales in Japan keep declining at double-digit rate in October

Motor vehicle sales in Japan kept declining in October, both on monthly and annual basis. The units sold were 279,341 compared to 318,371 in September. This translates into a yearly decline of 31.3% y/y. This is slightly less that than the 32.2% y/y drop in October but does not give any clear signal of a rebound yet.

The breakdown of the data shows that 82.5% of the vehicles sold in October were passenger cars, the rest were commercial vehicles, most of which trucks, and a tiny share (0.17% of the total vehicles) - buses. The distribution does not exhibit any changes compared to the previous months. The annual growth rates of passenger and commercial vehicles are also aligned.

In terms of brands, Toyota holds the Lion's share with close to 30% (81,822 vehicles sold), followed by Suzuki and Honda with 15.2% and 14.2% shares, respectively.

More analysis and charts here.

Further data and analysis on Japan’s economy are available on the CEIC Japan Economy in a Snapshot – Q3 2021 report.