Top five automakers report another slump in domestic sales

All of the nation's biggest carmakers, including Toyota Motor Corp., saw their domestic sales fall from a year earlier in May, as they did in April, in contrast to their generally better business performances abroad, according to data released Monday.

The Toyota group, including Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., registered a 4.3 percent decline in domestic sales to 161,705 vehicles.

Honda Motor Co.'s domestic sales slumped 13.3 percent to 42,031 vehicles and Nissan Motor Co.'s figure slid 7.5 percent to 47,784 vehicles.

Mazda Motor Corp. sold 19,815 vehicles, down 2.0 percent, and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s sales came to 14,496 vehicles, a decline of 14.2 percent.

The Toyota group's overseas production jumped 12.4 percent to 384,197 vehicles and Honda's output abroad leaped 10.4 percent to 224,319 vehicles, both record highs.

Nissan's overseas production surged 16.4 percent to 191,083 vehicles.

Mazda's declined, however, by 27.9 percent to 19,241 vehicles, and MMC saw a 0.9 percent decrease in offshore output to 50,894 units.

In terms of global production, the Toyota group produced 10.1 percent more vehicles at 778,124 units. Honda saw its figure leap for the 22nd month in a row to a record 329,507 vehicles, up 10.9 percent. Nissan chalked up an increase of 6.9 percent to 262,572 units. Mitsubishi posted a rise of 6.5 percent to 108,426 units.

Mazda, however, saw its worldwide output slip 2.1 percent to 92,416 units.

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