Japanese carmakers went through challenging times in 2022 as they posted the worst sales in almost 45 years, NHK World reported.
The NHK report, quoting Japan Automobiles Dealers Association, said the automobile markets in Japan as a whole continued to shrink and the overall sales were just over four million units last year.
The Japanese industry's peak sales were in 1990 when automakers sold about 7.8 million units.
According to NHK World, the Japanese industry attributed the decline to global semiconductor shortage, and carmakers too had difficulties in sourcing auto components from China, leading to below-par capacity utilisation at plants.
"There are going to be more and more people who are probably going to abandon owning cars at some point. And in Japan again, the economy in Tokyo is not too bad as compared to other rural areas. But again the population continues to come to Tokyo where mass transportation is very good; as a result, there is no need and it is very expensive to own a car in Tokyo (sic)," Endo Koji, head of equity research, SBI Securities told NHK World.
On the outlook for 2023, Koji said the industry will continue to face tough times because of the potential recession in the US. Also, weak demand from key market China, too, may hurt the Japanese automobile industry.
"It seems many of the carmakers around the world, not just Japanese, are now facing some difficulties on the number of microchips and that's probably going to continue sometime even though we expect some recovery by end of 2023," Koji added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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