Japan's April 2014 New Car Sales Down

Tokyo May 1, 2014; In a story published by Reuters Yoko Kubota reported that Japan's industry-wide auto sales, including 660cc mini-vehicles, dropped 5.5 percent in April from a year earlier to 345,226 vehicles, industry data showed on Thursday, as demand sapped after a sales tax hike that took place last month.

Japan raised its sales tax to 8 percent in April from 5 percent. The Japanese auto lobby expects auto sales to drop 15.6 percent in the year to March 2015 to 4.75 million vehicles.

A breakdown of domestic vehicle sales data follows, with year-on-year percentage changes in parentheses. YEAR-TO-DATE JAN-APR 2014 JAN-APR 2013 Total 2,189,863 (+15.7) 1,893,172 Registered vehicles 1,298,525 (+12.4) 1,155,020 Minivehicles 891,358 (+20.8) 738,152 APRIL 2014 Total 345,226 (- 5.5) 365,164 Registered vehicles 188,864 (-11.4) 213,165 Minivehicles 156,362 (+ 2.9) 151,999 MARCH 2013

Total 783,384 (+17.4) 667,128 Registered vehicles 481,039 (+14.5) 420,069 Minivehicles 302,345 (+22.4) 247,059 FEBRUARY 2014 2013 Total 565,170 (+18.4) 477,379 Registered vehicles 336,176 (+15.0) 292,453 Minivehicles 228,992 (+23.8) 184,926 JANUARY Total 496,105 (+29.4) 383,501 Registered vehicles 292,446 (+27.5) 229,333 Minivehicles 203,659 (+32.1) 154,168

Sources: Registered vehicle data provided by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.

Minivehicle data provided by the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association. Monthly data are sometimes revised.

Editing for Reuters by Sunil Nair