Eight major Japanese automakers reported Wednesday their combined domestic output in January fell 10.6 percent from a year earlier to 714,580 vehicles as domestic sales sagged after the end of government subsidies for eco-friendly vehicle purchases.
Their domestic production declined for the fifth straight month from September, when the government terminated the subsidies.
Honda Motor Co. saw the biggest decline among the eight, with its domestic output plunging 40.3 percent to 58,772 vehicles.
Domestic output declined 26.4 percent to 70,698 vehicles at Nissan Motor Co., 10.6 percent to 38,847 at Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and 5.7 percent to 278,804 at Toyota Motor Corp.
In contrast, the eight automakers' combined overseas production rose 13.6 percent to 1,368,617 vehicles.
Overseas output expanded 74.7 percent to 60,666 units at MMC, 29.7 percent to 283,315 at Honda, 23.0 percent to 190,779 at Suzuki Motor Corp. and 13.4 percent to 332,468 at Nissan.
Toyota's output abroad was up 5.3 percent to 441,417 units.