Japan's top three automakers said global production in July rose to records for that month, highlighting solid growth riding on their reputation for fuel-efficient models amid soaring gasoline prices.
Toyota Motor Corp. — close to passing General Motors Corp. to become the world's biggest automaker — said Wednesday that worldwide output rose 10.2 percent in July from a year ago to 812,147 vehicles.
Honda Motor Co., Japan's second-biggest automaker, reported July production jumped 17.7 percent to 342,152 vehicles. Demand for its Fit subcompact, the best-selling car in Japan for the ninth month in a row, has benefited the company.
Nissan Motor Co. also racked up record production for July at 315,975 vehicles, up 26.8 percent on year, on strong sales of its Maxima and Altima sedans in the United States and the Teana and other models in China.
The robust growth for the Japanese companies comes at a time when soaring gas prices have hurt the world's auto industry.
Honda makes more vehicles abroad than at home. Its output overseas shot up 19.3 percent to 229,996 vehicles, while domestic production rose 14.5 percent to 112,156, the first rise in 11 months.
Mazda Motor Corp. also reported robust global production for July — up 25.5 percent to 126,025 vehicles.
All the world's automakers are struggling to shift their product offerings from gas-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles, whose profit margins per vehicle are bigger, to smaller models.
Toyota's exports surged 12.5 percent in July to 246,809 vehicles, while Honda's exports declined in July for the third straight month at 56,415 vehicles, down 6.9 percent from a year ago. Nissan's exports soared 84.2 percent to 83,429 vehicles on healthy demand in North America, Europe and Russia.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. was the only major Japanese automaker to report a global output fall last month, at 113,538 vehicles, edging down 0.9 percent from July 2007.