Car sales plunge in Japan

Major Japanese carmakers saw their domestic sales fall sharply in November amid sluggish consumer spending in the wake of a sales tax hike in April, dpa cited the companies as saying Wednesday.
Honda Motor Co said its vehicle sales in Japan plunged 30.5 per cent year-on-year in November to 51,472 units, while its production in the rest of Asia jumped 12.7 per cent to 145,376.
Sales by Nissan Motor Co also plummeted 14 per cent to 46,081 vehicles in November, while the number of cars sold overseas edged down 0.1 per cent.
Toyota Motor Corp reported that sales of its passenger cars dropped 10.4 per cent to 104,673 units in the month while its exports declined 0.9 per cent to 150,058 and overseas production fell 6.7 percent to 473,011.