Japan sales of the Toyota Motor jumped 50.7 percent from the previous year in March, an industry group said Thursday, despite the carmaker being hit by mass global safety recalls this year. Toyota sold 204,514 vehicle luxury Lexus brand cars nearly tripled to 4,919 units.
The March figure also improved on February's 146,145 units. The rise is widely attributed to the fact that the March figure includes orders for the popular petrol-electric Prius hybrid that the carmaker received months in advance, before the recall crisis.
Automakers around the world are seeing a rebound from last year's lows caused by the global economic downturn of 2008-2009, with demand boosted by cost cuts and government stimulus measures. Mizuno Credit Advisory analyst Tatsuya Mizuno said damage to Toyota over its recall crisis has peaked in Jd image has suffered in Japan to some extent, but not as much as overseas," he said.
The Japan figures do not include sales of subsidiaries Hino and Daihatsu Motors. The firm will release its US figures later Thursday. US chief Jim Lentz said Wednesday sales in Toyota's biggest market likely rose to 35 percent after it offered deep discounts to lure clients and compete against rivals that jumped to grab a piece of Toyota's market share.