Updated as of September 2005

Auto Production Lines Still Humming.

Japanese automobile manufacturers produced a total of 10,511,518 vehicles in 2004, including 8,720,385 passenger cars, 1,730,691 trucks, and 60,442 buses. The total was up 2.2 percent from 10,286,318 in 2003.

Automobile sales, including cars, trucks and buses, in Japan totaled 5,853,382 units in 2004, a slight increase of 0.4 percent from the previous year. Domestic registration of new passenger cars numbered 4,768,131 units in 2004, an increase of 1.1 percent compared to the previous year. Sales of imported passenger cars totaled 269,198 units, down 2.2 percent from the previous year.

Exports of Japanese automobiles in 2004 totaled 4,957,663 units, an increase of 4.2 percent from the previous year or 47.1 percent of the total automobile production in Japan.

The United States has been and remains the most important overseas market for the Japanese automobile industry, providing the largest market, absorbing both exported and locally-produced vehicles. Exports of automobiles to the U.S. totaled 1,559,607 units in 2004, a 2.2 percent decrease from 1,594,152 units in 2003, while local production by Japanese makers in the U.S. reached 3,143,603 in 2004, up 11.8 percent from the previous year, together the total Japanese automobiles reached 4,703,210 units in the U.S.A.

Japanese automakers launched U.S. manufacturing operations in the early 1980s and since then have continued to expand. Locally-produced automobiles accounted for just under 300,000 units in 1985 and steadily increased to 3,143,603 units in 2004.

On the other hand, local production of automobiles in Asia rose even more, reaching 3,638,978 units in 2004, up 21 percent from 2003.

As of the end of 2004, the total number of automobiles produced by Japanese automakers overseas reached 9,797,551 units, including 3,638,978 units in Asia, 1,454,903 units in the European Union, 697,141 units in Canada, and 3,143,603 units in the U.S.