The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association will revise its auto sales forecast downward for the year as the recession shows no sign of lifting, the head of the industry group said Thursday.
JAMA had earlier projected auto sales would total 6.77 million for the business year ending March 31, 1999.
"We had expected the auto market would start to pick up at the end of the first half of this year, but so far there isn't any sign of recovery," JAMA Chief Yoshifumi Tsuji said.
Although there are hopes auto sales will recover with the introduction of many new models in the latter half of the year, market demand seems to be nearly 10 percent lower than JAMA's original projection, Tsuji said.
"I doubt that this year's auto sales will exceed last year's figure," he said.
JAMA proposed tax cuts to stimulate the market and promote environmentally friendly vehicles.
It also called on the government to trim a 5 percent acquisition tax applied on automobiles if the purchased vehicles have higher fuel efficiency.
JAMA also said customers who buy electric vehicles should be exempt from paying the acquisition tax for two years.