Honda Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. led a drop in domestic regular vehicle sales in August, the 26th straight monthly decline, as a less stable labor market continued to discourage people from buying new cars.
Sales of cars, trucks and buses excluding minicars fell 1.9 percent to 227,737 vehicles in August compared with a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday. Honda's sales fell 9.5 percent to 23,663 vehicles, while Mazda's dropped 7.6 percent to 14,212 vehicles.
"If you don't know what your job situation is going to be five years from now, you're going to refrain from making that big purchase," said Hikari Sugiura, a researcher at Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., which conducts studies for the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
Japan has one of the world's shortest product cycles, with new models providing sales boosts for less than a year, according to analysts including Koji Endo at Credit Suisse Securities (Japan) Ltd.
Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, in February released the Crossroad sport utility vehicle, its only new passenger car model so far this year. Mazda has also introduced only one model this year.
Sales at Toyota Motor Corp. rose 2.5 percent to 102,056 vehicles, excluding its Lexus brand, in August after introducing a new ist model on July 30.