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Japan's top 5 carmakers global output rises in Feb

TOKYO: Japan's top five automakers all boosted their global output in February, reflecting primarily increasing production at their overseas plants.

Toyota Motor Corp, the world's third-largest automaker, boosted its worldwide output by 15 percent from a year earlier to 448,274 vehicles, the seventh consecutive month of increase, industry data showed on Wednesday.

Toyota's production in Japan increased 14.6 percent from a year earlier to 301,627 vehicles, while its output abroad rose 15.9 percent to 146,647.

Its domestic sales rose 6.0 percent to 161,070, giving it a domestic market share, excluding minivehicles, of 44.4 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier.

Honda Motor Co, which relies on the US market for the bulk of its profits, said its global output rose 5.1 percent to 214,156 vehicles, helped by higher output in North America and Asia.

Domestic output by Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, slipped 0.1 percent 104,797 vehicles. Its overseas output rose 9.5 percent to 109,799.

No 3 Nissan Motor Co said its worldwide production rose 9.4 percent to 219,748, mainly helped by higher output of pickup trucks and Xterra sport-utility vehicles in the United States. Nissan is 36.8 percent owned by French automaker Renault SA.

Nissan's overseas output surged 40.3 percent to 97,078 vehicles, while its domestic production dropped 6.9 percent to 122,670. Its domestic market share, excluding minivehicles, slid to 20.2 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from a year earlier, Nissan said.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Japan's fourth-biggest carmaker, said its global output rose 6.1 percent to 161,477 units, helped by good sales of US unit-made Eclipse coupes, and recovering output in the Philippines and Indonesia, while its Japanese output remained flat.

MMC's overseas output rose 19.2 percent to 57,738 vehicles.

Mazda Motor Corp, a unit of Ford Motor Co, released no figures for its global production but its domestic production rose a steep 24.2 percent, helped by new models such as the Premacy and MPV. Its overseas output rose 5.7 percent to 13,567 units, mainly due to higher output at its Thailand unit. -Reuters