Japan's top three automakers said Thursday their domestic sales in February scored double-digit year-on-year increases thanks to robust demand before April's hike in the sales tax.

Japan sales surged 13.5 percent from a year ago to 161,903 units at Toyota Motor Corp., 29.4 percent to 85,922 units at Honda Motor Co. and 18.4 percent to 82,399 units at Nissan Motor Co.

They also expanded global output in the month, with rates up 2.7 percent to 1,469,329 units at Toyota, 15.0 percent to 422,583 units at Nissan and 7.5 percent to 353,009 units at Honda.