Toyota, Nissan and Honda March Quarter Global Production Surge

Hiruki Nakamura
23 Apr, 2014
New York City

Toyota reported a surge of 6% in global vehicle production to 2.58 million in the quarter to March. Honda global production in the quarter increased 12.4% to 0.4 million and at Nissan rose 10.4% to 0.49 million units. Seibu surged 10% on the first day of trading.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Toyota reported a surge of 6% in global vehicle production to 2.58 million in the quarter to March. Honda global production in the quarter increased 12.4% to 0.4 million and at Nissan rose 10.4% to 0.49 million units. Seibu surged 10% on the first day of trading.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo gained for the first time in three days and resource linked companies led the gainers.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 157.50 or 1.1% to 14,546.27 and the Topix index gained 11.31 to 1,173.81.

The yen closed up 0.2% to 102.61 against the U.S. dollar.

Preliminary manufacturing industry survey in China conducted by HSBC indicated the index increased tom 48.3 in April from 48 in March.

Any read below 50 means a contraction, however the latest data suggested manufacturing growth is still slowing but at a smaller rate than in the previous month.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp slid 9 yen to 5,549 yen and the largest Japanese automaker said global unit sales in the quarter to March increased 6% to 2.58 million.

Toyota’s domestic production increased 1.6% and output outside Japan rose 8% to 5.89 million in the fiscal year ending in March.

Toyota sold more vehicles than GM and VW and both automakers have estimated quarter sales of 2.4 million units. VW has still not released its MAN and Scania truck brand sale data for the period.

Last calendar year, VW global unit sales increased to 9.73 million and surpassed the GM sales of 9.71 million units.

Honda Motor Co jumped 48 yen to 3,476 yen after the automobile maker reported total production in March climbed 12.4% to 401,602 vehicle units from a year earlier.

Production in Japan surged 54.1% to 95,031 units and production outside the nation rose 3.7% to 306,571 units.

Honda brand''s sales in Japanese market in March soared 32.2% to 121,745 units while total exports from Japan in March plunged 84.2% to 2,178 units.

For the year ending in March, total production jumped 8.5% to 4.40 million units with output in Japan increased 6.9% and outside Japan jumped 9%.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd closed unchanged at 896 yen after the automaker said global production in March increased 10.4% year-on-year to 484,990 units.

Production in Japan for the month soared 21.1% to 88,754 units and production outside of Japan climbed 8.2% to 396,236 units from a year ago period. In the U.S., production for the month surged 27.1% to 88,891 units.

Global sales in March jumped 7.2% to 584,912 units and in Japan, Nissan sold 103,436 units, an increase 18.7% from a year earlier.

Nissan added exports in March climbed 12.7% to 35,457 units and exports to North America soared 42.9% to 17,151 units from a year ago.

For the year, global production increased 6% to 5,078,081 units, record annual production. Production in Japan declined 5.7% to 1,000,190 units and production outside of Japan jumped 9.4% to 4,077,891 units

For the year, global sales climbed 6.7% to record 5,188,517 units.

Sony gained 20 yen to 1,919 yen.

Softbank Corp jumped 178 yen to 7,900 yen. Fast Retailing Co Ltd climbed 415 yen to 33,275 yen.

Seibu Holdings Inc surged 10.6% to 1,770 yen and Japan-based hotel and transportation company jump today in their trading debut and closed above initial offering price of 1,600 yen.