Following the coronavirus pandemic and a nationwide recession in Japan, exports of Japanese-made cars halved in April and reached a low of about 168,000, before recovering and reaching pre-pandemic levels again in October. Sales within Japan fell from a high 485,000 in March to only 174,000 units in May,
Domestic sales did not recover as well and decreased again in October and November. As the country is battling a new outbreak, production and exports numbers could still dip again, as their reporting lags behind that of domestic sales.
Car exports were especially hard-hit by the coronavirus slump. Overall exports fell only by approximately 22 percent - the biggest decrease since the 2009 recession.
According to Al-Jazeera, in its annual operating profit, while Mitsubishi said they expected an even bigger drop of 89 percent. May production of cars in Japan was only a third of March figures but had recovered as of September.
