Honda has followed rival Toyota by lowering its domestic market sales forecast for 2007.
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Toyota Motor earlier dropped its Japan sales forecast but maintained its overall global sales target.
Honda Motor vice president Koichi Kondo told the Associated Press (AP) it was “likely” the forecast for Japan sales would be reduced from the current projection for 660,000 vehicles – already 1.8% down on 2006.
The news agency noted that Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said last week that overseas sales, including regions such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Russia, would make up for the expected drop in Japan sales.
Toyota now expects domestic sales of around 1.65m vehicles for this year, lower than the initial projection for 1.72m, the report said.
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By GlobalDataThe news agency noted that the Japanese car market has been stagnant in recent years – public transportation is good in Japan’s urban areas, traffic congestion is bad and parking expensive so car owners in the country are generally weekend drivers.
The Associated Press said analysts also cite other reasons, such as declining pay, and an overall demographic shift toward lower birth rates, that have reduced prospective buyers – youngsters aren’t interested in cars, they reportedly said, but instead spend their money on cell phone bills and gadgets.
