Total demand for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in Japan for calendar year 2011 will be 4.25 million units, down 14.2% from the previous year, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association – JAMA, which has now issued its first forecast since December of 2010.
That late 2010 JAMA forecast was worthless, of course, because of the subsequent earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan in March of this year.
Factors also working against the projection were a strong Yen, which changed the economic generic cialis online environment for the export oriented Japanese companies, changes in consumer confidence, and severe disruptions in automakers’ supply chains. The ongoing rise of export-oriented Korean automakers was also a factor, but unmentioned by JAMA in its statement.
The much ballyhooed anticipation that post-quake reconstruction activities would trigger a year-on-year increase in demand for standard and small-size trucks beginning in the fourth quarter is not in the new forecast. Overall, demand for trucks in 2011 is forecast to fall from the previous year’s level.
