Honda Motor Co. reported an 18.8 percent year-on-year gain in domestic sales in February for a second consecutive monthly rise, but the four other big Japanese automakers continued to post declines, according to data released Tuesday by the companies.
Honda sold 79,610 vehicles, including commercial vehicles and imported minicars, thanks to the continued popularity of its Fit subcompact cars and Life minicars. The increase followed a 14.7 percent rise the previous month.
Honda said it bucked a 3.6 percent decline in industrywide domestic sales for the month.
Industry leader Toyota Motor Corp. saw a 6.1 percent fall in sales to 152,555 for a sixth straight month of decline.
Nissan Motor Co. sold 68,315 vehicles, down 8.6 percent, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. 40,869, down 8.9 percent, and Mazda Motor Corp. 22,625, down 16.7 percent.
On the output front, Toyota, Honda and Mazda reported an increase in domestic production, while Nissan and Mitsubishi posted a drop for the reporting month.
Toyota produced 305,184 vehicles, up 1.1 percent, Honda 118,582, up 7.9 percent, and Mazda 65,226, up 7.2 percent.
Nissan's domestic output dropped 4.4 percent to 114,187 vehicles and Mitsubishi's fell 16 percent to 79,666.
All but Mitsubishi saw a rise in overseas production, with Toyota reporting a 14.6 percent rise to 162,396 vehicles.
Nissan's output was up 4.9 percent to 104,424, Honda's 2.7 percent to 114,305 and Mazda's 2.1 percent to 11,313.
Mitsubishi's overseas output slipped 3.7 percent to 64,913.
All five makers reported an increase in exports, with Toyota posting an 11.7 percent rise to 148,821 and Nissan a 16.8 percent rise to 50,233.
Mitsubishi's exports rose 5.9 percent to 32,481, Honda's 4.4 percent to 35,842 and Mazda's 21.3 percent to 46,502.