Honda's Fit Tops Japan Auto Sales for Eighth Month (Update1)

04/07/2008 14:09. July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. , Japan's second- largest carmaker, topped the country's passenger-car sales ranking for the eighth straight month with its revamped Fit compact car.

Fit sales rose 77 percent in June from a year earlier to 14,702, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a release today. Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla ranked second with 12,930 vehicles sold, and the company's Vitz compact took the third spot with 9,854 sold.

Demand for the Fit and new Freed minivan boosted Honda's domestic sales, excluding minicars, by 4.1 percent last month. The latest version of the Fit, introduced in October, helped Tokyo-based Honda end the Corolla's four-year reign as Japan's bestselling car model in the year ended March 31.

Toyota had five models in the top 10 in... // Bloomberg