Japan – Compared with the same period the year before, worldwide output rose by 9.4% to 380,416 units, while production outside the OEM’s home market increased by 1.9% to 299,916 units; both were records for the month of May. Within Japan, volumes increased by 50.7% to 80,500 units.
Outside Japan, production increased in Asia, and China in particular, with totals of 130,515 units (a record for any month) and 79,245 units (a record for May) representing increases of 11.7% and 33.7% respectively. In North America, output dropped by 2.9% to 151,069 units, with US production decreasing by 6.6% to 106,819 units.
Year-to-date totals were: 436,368 units in Japan (+49.8%); 1,461,670 units outside Japan (+1.5%); and 1,898,038 units worldwide (+9.7%). Production rose by 8.9% in Asia and 27.6% in China, with totals of 583,486 and 351,278 units respectively. North American output decreased by 1.9% to 757,712 units, with output in the US dropping by 3.1% to 549,105 units. European production decreased by 2.6% to 60,408 units.
The greater production in Japan during May was the ninth consecutive monthly rise, while production outside Japan experienced a year-on-year increase for the fourth consecutive month. Global production grew for the tenth consecutive month.