Japan vehicle demand shows surprise jump in Sept

TOKYO, Oct 1, 2002 Reuters reported that demand for new Japanese vehicles showed a surprising jump in September from a year earlier, with overall sales climing 6.5 percent and auto giant Toyota Motor Corp putting in a particularly strong performace.

Industry-wide sales climbed for the first time in four months, touching 563,921 vehicles, data from the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Mini Vehicle Association showed on Tuesday.

Sales of ordinary vehicle sales rose for the first time in 13 months, up 4.5 percent to 388,018, while demand for cheaper 660cc minivehicles, which account for around a third of the market, surged 11.2 percent to 175,903.

"It's a good month -- a good month for minis and a good month for non-minis," said auto analyst Stephen Usher at JP Morgan.

Analysts had no immediate explanation for the upturn. There were the same number of working days this September as a year ago and the base month figures were not particularly low, sales in September 2001 having been relatively flat despite the attacks on New York and Washington part way through the month.

Among ordinary vehicle sales for Japan's leading five automakers, the nation's largest automaker Toyota Motor Corp revved to the top, with a 9.9 percent gain.

"Their sales were down 8.7 percent last year, so they are clearing a lower hurdle but the fact that they are clearing it so well is impressive," said Kurt Sanger, auto analyst at ING.

Some analysts said that, while Toyota did not have a stand-out hot-selling vehicle, a raft of new models released earlier this year finally seemed to be showing through in sales figures.

Others, however, expressed concern that Toyota's robust sales might only be coming at the expense of heavy discounting.

Third-ranked Nissan Motor Co and fifth-largest Mazda Motor Corp also put in a healthy performance on the back of new products, up 4.2 percent and 8.7 percent respectively.

Sales for Honda Motor Co were flat, with the automaker finding it increasingly difficult to post gains in year-on-year terms after sales were boosted by the best-selling Fit subcompact last year.

Restructuring Mitsubishi Motors Corp , with no new models this year, remained out in the cold with sales down 22.3 percent.