Japanese Autos Getting Crushed

As I detailed last month,

Looking at auto sales by major manufacturer, the results were rather striking as Hyundai Kia's growth led to total sales which have outpaced Nissan (and is now only a thin margin from Chrysler), while Ford surged past Toyota.

While all figures were down (with the exception of Chrysler) due to a comparison against the cash for clunker driven August 2009, it looks like the trend of Japanese weakness in the auto sector is continuing. Bloomberg details:

Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., beneficiaries last year of U.S. “cash for clunkers” incentives, had the steepest August sales declines among large carmakers because of the program’s end and a slowing economy.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, sold 34 percent fewer vehicles in the U.S. than in August 2009, while Honda’s volume plunged 33 percent. Sales for Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. fell 27 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Source: AutoBlog