Japan’s Top 3 Automakers Post Upbeat U.S. Sales in June

New York, July 1 (Jiji Press)–Top three Japanese automakers continued to enjoy brisk new automobile sales in the United States in June, according to data released by automakers on Friday.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s new vehicle sales in June grew 10.0 pct from a year before to 194,875 units. Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. also posted record sales for June, marking growth of 4.7 pct and 14.2 pct, respectively.

Meanwhile, sales by U.S. industry leader General Motors Corp. jumped 41.1 pct to 558,092 units, hitting the highest level in about 19 years.

Thanks to its unusual sales promotion measure of extending special employee discounts to all customers, GM saw its U.S. market share exceed 30 pct for the first time since September 2004.

Hit by GM’s upbeat performance, however, sales by Ford Motor Co. sagged 3.2 pct, the 13th consecutive fall.

Overall new vehicle sales in the United States in June gained 11.4 pct to 1,677,698 units, marking a double-digit increase for the first time since December 2002, according to research firm Autodata Corp.END