Toyota Motor Corp said its global car sales fell for the fourth straight month in May, weighed down by weak demand in China and the Middle East. Reuters
Toyota said global sales fell 7.2% from a year earlier to 834,279 vehicles. Sales outside Japan fell 9.6%, while domestic sales rose 11.1%. The decline was supported by strong demand for the RAV4 and bZ4X models.
Toyota’s biggest sales decline was in China, where it fell 31.7% amid challenging market conditions, including rising gasoline prices. Sales in the Middle East fell 38.6%. The U.S., which remains the company’s main market, fell 0.6%.
Toyota’s global production in May fell 5.5% year-on-year. A 3.8% decline in the U.S. and a 13.3% decline in Asia were partly offset by a rise in production in Japan. The company’s figures also include its premium Lexus brand.
Toyota previously lost its status as Japan’s largest company by market capitalization for the first time in more than 20 years. It was overtaken by technology company SoftBank.
