Japanese car sales leap in US market

[NNN0LHI]

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120602_10.html

Jun. 2, 2012 - Updated 12:29 UTC

New car sales in the United States jumped in May with a marked turnaround by Japanese auto firms from the aftermath of last year's disaster.

US research firm Autodata says last month's unit sales of new cars in the United States rose 25.7 percent from a year earlier to one-million 334,600. This marked the 12th consecutive month of increase.

The surge is attributed to continuing replacement demand in the US market and the rebound of Japanese firms from reductions in production last year.

Toyota Motor posted an 87.3 percent increase year-on-year -- the largest gain since 1980 when Autodata began collecting statistics.

[1-Old-Man]

1. That's because they make a better car for the money.

Pretty simple really. They make a better car. Go drive a Honda and then go drive a Chevy. Interestingly enough, it doesn't seem to make any difference if the Honda was built in the US or in Japan, it will still be the better car.

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. You're in for it now...

Welcome to DU. My apologies for the next few hours.

I made a similar point about a month ago and I still have my stalker following me.

[NNN0LHI]

3. The money?

Those workers don't pay in anything in to support our social programs like SS or Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps or pay the salaries for our government workers.

So one of these days chances are you may need those social programs to survive and then we will be talking about money, or the lack of it again. Pretty simple really.

Good luck.

Don

[Travis_0004]

4. You do realize that most Japanese cars are made in the US.

I drove a honda for a few years. It was built in America. I'm pretty damn sure that whoever built my car paid SS. medicare, and federal taxes.

[NNN0LHI]

5. You do realize that, "Made in the US", includes prison labor making a few dollars a day

Good chance some parts of your Honda were made by US prison labor.

Not sure how much those guys in prison are going to pay in for your SS. medicare, and federal taxes making the kind of wages they make in prison. But I bet it isn't much.

Maybe we will all be able to get a job working for Honda after we are all in prison.

Doesn't that sound good.

Don

[Travis_0004]

6. My car is old enought that I doubt it was built by prisonors, as its a newer practice.

I'm not saying I support prisoners building parts for cars, but there still are Japanese cars built by Americans. There is a large Toyota plant less than 20 miles from me that hires tons of people.

Plus there are a lot of domestic cars made in Mexico, so its not like Domestic car companies are saints. I like Honda, and Toyota, they have been good to me, and I see no reason that I wouldn't buy another one in the future.

[FarCenter]

8. Wards defines "domestic" as any vehicle made in the US, Canada or Mexico

[Historic NY]

9. Hope they got them dried out...GM is the #1 car sold worldwide.

[FarCenter]

7. It is just a rebound from last year's tsunami disaster in Japan

There were factories in Fukushima and nearby provinces that produced critical parts, like microcontrollers for the engine control unit. When these ran low, the Japanese volume was reduced. Some buyers went to Korean or European brands, some to US brands, and some simply waited. Hyundai did really well. It looks like European brands are doing less well now than last year.

Honda's daily sales rate is up 36.3% over last May, while Toyota's daily sales rate is up 72.9%.

http://wardsauto.com/keydata/USSalesSummary