New-Vehicle Sales in Japan Decline 4.9%

Sales of new cars, buses and trucks in Japan fell 4.9% in 1997 to 5.11 million, the first decline in four years, the Japan Automobile Dealers’ Assn. said Monday.

Sluggishness in the Japanese economy has chilled demand for cars and other big-ticket items, and buying was further discouraged by an April increase in the national sales tax to 5% from 3%. Sales surged in 1996 ahead of the sales tax increase.

Sales of imported cars fell 14.7% to 364,882, the automobile dealers group said.

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s leading auto maker, saw sales fall 5.4%; Nissan Motor Co.’s sales declined 5.9%; and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.’s shrank 11.8%.

But sales rose 3% at Honda Motor Co. and 2.9% at Mazda Motor Corp.

Meanwhile, Honda announced that it sold a record 825,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 1997, up 15% from the previous year, powered by sales of its bread-and-butter Accord and Civic models.

The company ran out of Accords earlier last year before introducing a remodeled version in the fall. Accord sales are up 20% since the introduction of the new model, Honda said.

Separately, South Korea’s Kia Motors Corp. said its U.S. sales jumped 66% to a record 55,325 units last year. U.S. auto maker Ford Motor Co. owns 9.39% of debt-ridden Kia.