Japan sees sixth monthly decline in vehicle sales

Japan sees sixth monthly decline in vehicle sales

Japan's domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses fell for the sixth consecutive month in December due to the rising fuel prices, the Japan Automobile Dealers' Association (JADA) said. JADA indicated that December sales of new vehicles fell 9.7 percent year on year to 273,834 units. For the whole of 2005, new vehicle sales fell 0.9 percent to 3.93 million units. Passenger car sales fell 12 percent to 231,261 units last month. On the other hand, bus sales jumped 13 percent to 1,165 units and truck sales rose 5.3 percent to 41,408 units. Separately, the Japanese Mini-Vehicle Association disclosed that mini-vehicle sales amounted to 134,134 units in December, a year-on-year decrease of 8.4 percent. Despite the December's decline, mini-vehicle sales rose 1.7 percent to 1.92 million units in 2005.