AlwaysFree: Japan’s March Auto Sales Extend Fall

Japan's auto sales fell in March for a sixth straight month. Meanwhile, car sales in Taiwan rose. The Japan automobile dealers association said the country's auto sales fell by 24 percent from a year earlier to 485,207. The pace of the drop was the steepest on record for the month of March. All vehicle categories saw a fall in sales.

Sales began to slump from last year's Q4 following the country's move to raise its consumption tax last October. Moves to contain the Covid-19 virus outbreak has exacerbated the slowdown in recent months.

The drop in sales cut the country's total auto sales to 1.27 million in this year's Q1, down by 17 percent from a year earlier. The quarterly volume was the lowest in nine years.

Taiwan's car sales extended their rise in March for a second straight month. Demand rose by 15.1 percent to 37,279. The rise in sales partly reflected a surge in demand for Tesla-branded cars. The increase in car sales helped to lift total car sales by 8 percent to 104,046 in Q1.

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