Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. (TM,TYT.L), Nissan Motor Co Ltd. (NSANY.PK) and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMTOF.PK) on Monday reported declines in vehicle production for the month of December 2012. However, Honda Motor Co Ltd. (HMC) reported a marginal increase.
Toyota said its worldwide production dropped 13.4 percent to 655,427 units in December. Production of the Toyota brand dropped 12.3 percent to 577,755 units, while that of its unit Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. dipped 23.7 percent to 65,215 units. Hino Motors, Ltd.'s output fell 6.2 percent to 12,457 units.
Total production for the company in Japan fell 21.2 percent to 285,567 vehicles with a 20.5 drop in Toyota output. Production of passenger cars declined 22.4 percent, and there was a decline of 13.6 percent in trucks & buses production.
Sales in Japan dropped 5.1 percent to 142,926 units. Toyota sales slid 2.3 percent, Daihatsu sales fell 12.4 percent and Hino sales were down 16 percent.
Production outside Japan fell 6.3 percent, for the first time in three months, amid decreased output of Toyota in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America.
Exports for December declined 9.9 percent with drops in both passenger cars as well as trucks & buses.
For Honda, worldwide total production rose 1.7 percent to 285,933 units in December. Output declined 35.3 percent to 59,994 units in Japan while it increased 19.8 percent outside Japan to 225,939 vehicles, which was a record high for the month.
Outside Japan, production surged 195 percent in Europe and improved 8.5 percent in North America. Output declined 38.5 percent in China.
Honda brand sales gained 8.1 percent to 44,797 units in December. Exports from Japan declined 57.3 percent to 10,545 units.
As for Nissan, global production in December decreased 13.6 percent year-on-year to 343,253 units.
Production in Japan decreased 23.3 percent to 87,627 units, due principally to the rebound in production last year after the impact of the earthquake. Production outside Japan decreased 9.8 percent to 255,626 units.
Nissan's global sales in December decreased 8.6 percent to 399,828 units. Nissan's exports in December decreased 16.8 percent to 65,730 units.
Including mini-vehicles, Nissan sold 39,038 units in Japan, a 13.6 percent decrease from last year. Vehicle registrations fell 8.9 percent to 31,095 units, mainly due to decreased demand for older models that offset the robust sales of new models including the new Note. Nissan said the new Note was ranked as the third best-selling registered vehicle in Japan.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi said its total production declined in December to 85,644 units, amid declines in domestic production and improvement in overseas production that includes imports to Japan. This was the first monthly year-on-year decrease in six months since June 2012.
Domestic production dropped to 35,075 units, marking the seventh consecutive monthly year-on-year decrease since May 2012. Output declined in passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
Domestic sales were lower than last year at 8,471 units.
Total exports dropped to 27,698 vehicles. Export of passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles decreased in the month.
Both Toyota shares and Honda's shares closed down 0.6 percent in Tokyo on Monday. Toyota closed at 4,315 yen while Honda settled at 3,400 yen.
Nissan, however, added 2.4 percent to close at 895 yen. Mitsubishi was up 0.3 percent at 1,918 yen.
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