Sales of new imported cars, trucks and buses, including those made abroad by Japanese carmakers, rose 5.3 percent in August from a year earlier to 23,531 units, an industry body said Tuesday.
While sales of foreign-brand vehicles added a mere 0.5 percent to 19,782 units over the period, those of Japanese-brands jumped 41.6 percent to 3,749 units, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association.
By brand, Mercedes-Benz continued to rank top with 4,805 cars sold, up 4.9 percent for a market share of 20.4 percent. It was followed by BMW, whose sales grew 15.6 percent to 3,374 units for a 14.3 percent market share. Volkswagen, the No. 2 seller the previous month, ranked third with a 33.0 percent fall in sales to 2,908 units for a share of 12.4 percent.
Among Japanese brands, Nissan saw sales of its imported vehicles increase 28.5 percent to 1,617 units, and Toyota rose 15.8 percent to 1,098 units.