Japan Auto Sales:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210106/p2g/00m/0bu/024000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- New car sales in Japan slumped 11.5 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, marking the largest fall in nine years, data from industry bodies showed Tuesday.

Automakers sold 4,598,615 cars last year, including minivehicles with engines of up to 660 cc, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Mini Vehicles Association.

The 11.5 percent decline was the biggest since 2011, when auto sales tumbled 15.1 percent to about 4,210,000 vehicles, in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan and disrupted supply chains.

Ideas:

Buying  a car, for the most part, is a major purchase for most consumers. And as such, for many it might cause a major concern for their budget.

If you add in the uncertainty about jobs, future income, or extra income, then the stress about buying a car becomes larger.

So the idea that car sales were down because of the pandemic was no surprise, as many consumers may have decided to wait or postpone buying a new car.

Not to minimize the loss in car sales, but maybe its better than nothing as it could have been worse, as we have seen in many sectors and industries such as the services industry including hotels, travel agencies, the airline industry just to name a few.

Article:

The auto industry has seen a pickup in sales following a slump in the spring of 2020, when Japan was placed under a state of emergency over the novel coronavirus.

Excluding mini-vehicles, car sales fell 12.3 percent to 2,880,527 units. A total of 1,718,088 minicars were sold, down 10.1 percent, the data showed.

Car demand usually grows toward April, the start of a new business and school year in the country. Uncertainty remains over the outlook for 2021 as the government, struggling to cope with resurgent coronavirus infections, is moving toward declaring another state of emergency.

Ideas:

The surge in sales in min-vehicles is also no surprise as maybe there are cheaper, more fuel efficient and or more practical. So whatever it is consumers find them more attractive to buy during the pandemic situation.

So we will see as we get closer to April 2021 if car sales begin to increase.

At some point, consumers might get tired of waiting and just decide to buy a new car, if they are able to do.

But if there is a continued surge in the virus situation and the government can't get the vaccine program off the ground then car sales most likely will remain sluggish and not at their potential.

Article:

Toyota Motor Corp. saw a 5.8 percent drop in domestic sales in 2020 from a year earlier, while its competitors suffered double-digit declines.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. registered a 41.3 percent slump and Nissan Motor Co., in the midst of restructuring since the departure of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, saw a 27.5 percent fall.

The other automakers include Honda Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp., along with minicar-making Suzuki Motor Corp. and Daihatsu Motor Co., a Toyota subsidiary.

Ideas:

Sometimes consumers are brand conscious and sometimes they are just looking for the best deal, the most savings, or the most practical car they can find.

But sometimes they are very conservative in their buying. In this case, maybe or maybe not they are being conservative and choosing a brand they feel comfortable with despite maybe better options related to other variables.

And or Toyota, because of their resources and market power, are/were able to give better deals during the pandemic, and maybe even some deals below cost as a way to move their inventory, even though in the short term they might have lost some profits.