Japan used car sales in September falls 4.3 pct

TOKYO - Japanese secondhand vehicle sales in September slides 4.3 percent on yearly basis to 293,040 units, falling for the fifth consecutive month, local media reported Thursday.

The reason can be partly attributed to the shrinkage of the domestic supply of secondhand models traded in by new car purchasers against a backdrop of new car sales, Kyodo News reported, citing the Japan Automobile Dealers Association's report.

The industry body also traced the fall to secondhand car dealers expanding exports by taking advantage of the weaker yen that raises their price competitiveness overseas.

Of the total domestic sales, those of passenger cars shrank 4.3 percent to 256,483 units, while those of trucks fell 3.8 percent to 29,651 units. Bus sales gained 0.1 percent to 957 units.

Aggregate secondhand vehicle sales in the April-September half of fiscal 2013 slipped 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 1,848, 471 units, it added.