Carmakers sales tumble

Toyota Motor Corporation’s global sales have suffered a third straight month of year-on-year declines, with the impact of the Middle East conflict a key contributor to the latest drop.

The company has announced sales in April, including models from Toyota, Lexus and subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino, dropped by 3.7 per cent from the same month a year ago to 902,015 units.

Production increased by 3.4 per cent to 933,685 units over the same timeframe, reports the Japan Times< https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/05/28/companies/toyota-global-sales-april-down-middle-east/>.

Sales in the Middle East in April tumbled 33.7 per cent year-on-year, while exports to the region fell by 91.7 per cent to 2,418 units.

Retail activity in China also dropped by 25 per cent despite export numbers climbing by 7.8 per cent.

Other Japanese carmakers have also reported declining sales activity for April.

Honda Motor’s global sales fell 7.9 per cent from the same month last year to 265,215 units, while output was mostly flat, and Nissan Motor’s sales slipped 7.6 per cent to 208,663 vehicles and production was down 4.2 per cent to 212,463 units.