Toyota sales slump in Japan

Toyota Motor Corporation’s global sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) totalled 17,056 units in August, but only 18 of those were sold in Japan.

The worldwide figure was up 35 per cent from the same month last year, while the demand in the domestic market shrank by 84.9 per cent.

It takes the year-to-date BEVs tally for the Toyota and Lexus brands to 117,031 sales globally and 469 in Japan.

When it comes to plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), the company sold 16,012 vehicles worldwide in August, up 18.2 per cent from a year ago. Some 1,380 of those were bought in Japan for an 11.3 per cent climb.

Year-to-date, PHEV sales globally and domestically stand at 124,982 and 13,551 respectively.

International figures for Toyota’s hybrids were flat during August, rising 0.4 per cent to 338,031 units, while in Japan they fell 10.2 per cent from a year ago to 55,123.

The latest sales take the company’s year-to-date totals for hybrid sales to 2.9 million worldwide, of which 603,676 were in Japan.

Toyota’s latest sales and production results show its overall global sales in August, including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino, rose 1.3 per cent from a year ago to 900,598 units. 

Sales outside of Japan were up by 3.7 per cent to 766,151 units, but inside Japan they tumbled 10.2 per cent to 134,447.

Global production in August for all Toyota’s brands increased 3.7 per cent to 837,869 units.

Nissan completed 251,081 sales in August, a year-on-year climb of three per cent that was boosted by a 13 per cent increase in the United States and a 19 per cent jump in China.

Meanwhile, Honda’s global performance dropped seven per cent in August to 289,688 units.