Toyota Motor Corp. has gained a large lead over other domestic carmakers in global new car sales volume in 2019, which resulted from its efforts to proactively launch new models.
By Thursday, seven major domestic automakers had released the sales volume of new cars for the year.
The results show that five carmakers, including Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., suffered a decline in sales from the previous year.
Toyota's global new vehicle sales -- including those of Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., which are both under Toyota's umbrella -- increased to 10.74 million units, up 1.4% from 2018. The robust sales come against the backdrop of its introduction of RAV4 sport-utility vehicles and new Corolla models.
Toyota said it plans to launch a series of new models in 2020 in a bid to increase its market share.
The automaker is expected to roll out a new compact car, Yaris, with improved fuel efficiency in February, and release an electric vehicle under its Lexus brand in Chinese and European markets from spring. Toyota also eyes a full-model change of its fuel cell vehicle, Mirai.
Honda's sales fell 1.1% to 5.178 million units as it suffered sluggish sales in European and Japanese markets despite its robust sales in China, which increased 8.5% from the previous year.
Nissan, which was surpassed by Honda, posted sales of 5.176 million units, down 8.4% from a year earlier. The sales in Nissan's key U.S. market fell by 9.9%.
Suzuki Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. saw their sales drop sharply.
Suzuki's sales fell 9.8% to a 3 million-unit mark due mainly to its poor performance in the Indian market as the sales dropped about 13.7% there.
Mazda Motor Corp. posted sales of 1.49 million units, down 7.2%, the first drop in eight years. Mazda, which sells CX-4, an SUV only for the Chinese market, saw sluggish sales in China.
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