Japanese automotive industry shows healthy vitals going into 2012

Japanese automakers showed increase in sales this the year, according to a report published by Santa Monica-based automotive industry analysis organization, TrueCar.com.

The Japan automotive companies had a warm reception this year in the US. Toyota Motors and Nissan Motors had increased sales since April 2011. However, sadly for Honda, the dice roll did not bring good luck as the March earthquake and Thailand floods obstructed
their supply chain.

According to TrueCar.com, Nissan, Japan’s second largest automakers showed the biggest increase, a whopping 19 percent. Toyota showed a slow but incredible 6.7% increase in sales in North America against all odds.

A total of 13.6 million Japanese models were sold in the country, which were the strongest sales since August 2009.

According to Jesse Toprak, chief analyst at TrueCar.com, the main reason for a successful year was the retention of customer confidence in the US. Given the better employment rate as compared to last two years and optimal economical conditions in the country,
the demand in new and used cars increased.

“Consumers are becoming more comfortable buying again,” said Toprak. “If they have a car that needs to be replaced, they’re finally deciding it’s time to replace it.”

Both Nissan and Toyota’s sales increases where backed by the increase in Camry, Prius and Infiniti. Camry showed a 13 percent increase in sales and Prius’ new line of vehicles, the hatch back and the “v” tagged wagon, had a whopping 49 percent increase within
Toyota’s portfolio.

Nissan’s own Nissan and luxury line of sedans named Infiniti exceeded well beyond the assumed 12 percent increase in the last two and a half quarters and were the biggest support in company’s overall performance.

Honda were in thick of bad luck this year. First their Tokyo-based plant fell victim to the March-earthquake and subsequent Tsunami. Following this natural catastrophe, the company’s Thailand-based suppliers of electronic, rubber and plastic parts, were
inflicted by the monsoon season that consequentially turned into a flood that devoured half of the nation’s assets. Honda’s sales dropped 6.7 percent, which was the only drop in major automotive companies.

However, the US Executive vice president John Mendel seemed hopeful to end the year on a happy note.

“The impact of the Thailand flooding on our North American production levels continued to be felt in November,” Mendel said. “We’re looking forward to closing the year on a strong note as production recovers and the all-new CR-V goes on sale this month.”

Other Asian carmakers who showed rise in sales were Hyundai and their affiliate Kia with 29% and Mazda with 20 percent.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Dec 2 2011. Filed under Automobiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry