Honda Motor Co. chalked up gains in domestic auto sales in January, while the four other top Japanese automakers saw their sales decline, according to data released Monday by the firms.
Honda sold 51,502 autos, including commercial vehicles and minicars, in the month, up 14.7 percent from the previous year on strong sales of the Fit subcompact car, it said.
But industry leader Toyota Motor Corp. suffered a 4.6 percent domestic sales drop to 105,528 vehicles in January, marking the fifth straight month of decline.
Nissan Motor Co. reported a 2.9 percent drop in domestic sales to 48,556 vehicles, while Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s sales fell 11.1 percent to 28,128.
Mazda Motor Corp. suffered the largest percentage fall, at 14.1 percent, in domestic sales in the reporting month, with 20,452 vehicles sold.
Regarding output, all five automakers except Nissan increased their domestic production in January.
Honda's production increased for the fifth straight month, to 99,458 vehicles, up 12.1 from the year before.
Mitsubishi built 68,235 vehicles, up 7.4 percent, and Toyota 273,420, up 5.7 percent, for its first production increase in four months. Mazda turned out 59,537 vehicles, an increase of 3.4 percent and its first rise in five months.
But domestic output by Nissan edged down 0.7 percent to 95,403 vehicles. Nissan attributed the decrease to its preparations to launch a new model in March.
Toyota and Honda increased exports in January, while exports by the three other makers declined.
Exports by Honda rose 20.7 percent to 35,838 vehicles, up for the second straight month and led by increased shipments to North America and Europe. Toyota's exports gained 16.3 percent to 129,529 vehicles, up for the first time in two months.
Exports by Mazda fell 3.4 percent to 39,897 vehicles, while those by Nissan shrank 3.5 percent to 40,898.
Mitsubishi Motors posted the sharpest percentage decrease in exports, at 10.3 percent, to 28,744 vehicles.