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Summary Japan's 3 biggest car makers reported a surge in domestic production and sales in April.
In an impressive start to the fiscal year that runs through March, Japans biggest car maker by volume, Toyota Motor Corp., said domestic production soared more than five-fold in April to 275,761 vehicles.The countrys No. 2 car maker, Nissan Motor Co., built 85,734 vehicles at home in the same month, up 94% from a year earlier. Honda Motor Co., the third largest, hiked output more than six-fold to 87,049.A Nissan Motor Co. Pathfinder passes along the production line at the companys auto factory in Barcelona. Japans No. 2 car makerJapans auto industry suffered one of its worst-ever months in April last year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 severely disrupted their parts-supply networks.Toyota and Honda posted their largest-ever on-year output drops in the month, with plunges of 78% and 81% respectively, while Nissans output tanked by nearly half.Although they suffered a setback during the flooding in Thailand in the fall, the Japanese auto giants had mostly brought their supply chains back online by the end of the year. They expect solid output to lift their profits for the current fiscal year, despite the persistent strength of the yen, which diminishes the competitiveness of Japanese products abroad.I just hope that it will be a quiet and safe year, said Toyota President Akio Toyota at a news conference earlier this month.Toyota said its domestic sales nearly tripled on-year to 107,826 in April on solid demand for hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles, supported by the governments purchasing incentives for such vehicles. Its exports, meanwhile, increased nearly six-fold to 180,050 as shipments to all regions rose.Nissan said its domestic sales rose 64% to 39,413, while its exports more than tripled to 52,660.Honda said it sold 55,500 vehicles in Japan in April, slightly more than double its year-earlier figure. It also exported 217,977 vehicles, more than triple the year-earlier level.Japanese car makers are banking on emerging markets and a recovery in the U.S. market to bolster global sales. But it is uncertain to what extent these regions can raise domestic output, with the yens strength making it difficult to export vehicles profitably.Yet the car makers expect government incentives in the domestic market to continue helping their output and sales figures at least through the end of the fiscal first half in September.
