3 Japanese Automakers’ U.S. Sales Plummet in Jan.-March

Jiji Press

10:30 JST, April 3, 2022

NEW YORK (Jiji Press) — Three major Japanese automakers saw their sales of new automobiles in the United States plunge in the January-March quarter from a year before, according to their announcements Friday.

The automakers—Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. — continued to see their sales hampered by shortages of automobile parts such as semiconductors.

The drop was also a reaction to strong sales a year before, when economic activity began to resume after being held up by the novel coronavirus crisis.

Toyota’s U.S. sales sank 14.7% to 514,592 units, with sales of its mainstay RAV4 SUV dropping 11.4 pct.

But the automaker continued to beat U.S. auto giant General Motors Co. in new vehicle sales in the United States for the fourth consecutive quarter.

GM’s new auto sales fell 20.1% to 512,846 units.

Honda’s U.S. sales plunged 23.2% to 266,418 units. A Honda official said that the automaker is “continuing to take action to maximize production despite not yet resolving” issues regarding parts supply chains.

Nissan’s sales plummeted 29.6% to 201,081 units.