Mazda leads fall in Japanese sales

02/07/2008 04:48. MAZDA Motor Corp, one-third owned by Ford Motor Co, led a drop in Japanese auto sales in June, as rising costs for gasoline and food lowered demand for new cars.

Sales of cars, trucks and buses fell 3.6 percent to 281,261 from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said yesterday. The total excludes minicars.

Household spending in Japan fell 3.2 percent in May, the most since September 2006. Gasoline prices rose to a record 173 yen a liter (US$7.4 a gallon) in June, according to the Tokyo-based Oil Information Center.

"People simply don't have the money to buy right now," said Daisuke Shimazu, an investment manager at Sumitomo Trust Banking Co in Tokyo, which has about US$200 billion in assets. "Rising prices have led to steep drops in consumption and autos are part of... // Shanghai Daily