Reflecting the nation's economic slowdown, Japan's domestic auto sales will only grow slightly to about 5.2 million units in 1998, the new chairman of the Japan Automobile Dealers Association predicted Monday.
The figure indicates a 1.7 percent increase from last year's 5.11 million units, said Hiroshi Takikawa, president of Hyogo Toyota Motor Co. and chairman of the association.
The association, composed of some 2,000 auto dealers in Japan, selected Takikawa as its new chairman at its annual general meeting Friday. Takikawa said February's domestic auto sales will probably show a 25 percent drop from the same period last year because dealers sold as many vehicles as possible before the consumption tax increase last April. "We are hoping auto sales will be higher than last year's level beginning in April," he said.
Car dealers are also being hurt by the reluctance of the nation's financial institutions to extend loans to companies, Takikawa said. In a survey conducted by the association of 40 major dealers in January, 70 percent said they are unable to obtain enough cash from financial institutions, he said.