JAPANs Automotive Manufacturers’ Association (JAMA) expects a 19% or 5.02 million unit increase in the total vehicle sales this year. The figure includes sales of new passenger cars and commercial vehicles at
3.24 million units, up by 20.3% from 2011; and the mini-vehicle sales increasing by 17% to 1.78 million units.
The previous year had seen a decline of 15.1% to 4.21 million units for sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, whilst demand for new passenger cars and commercial vehicles totalled 2.69 million
units, a 16.7% drop from the 2010 figure. Meanwhile, mini-vehicle demand was also down by 11.9% to 1.52
million units during the same year.
In the UK, new car registrations only inched up by 0.03% to 128,853 compared with January last year while truck registrations climbed 45.4% to a total of 3,586 trucks at the onset of the year compared to same period last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Meanwhile, sales volumes are up by 24.6% to 44,063. Also, small number van registrations will result in a decrease in the wider commercial vehicle market, which fell by 16.4% year-onyear to 14,338. (PRA)