From United Press International
WASHINGTON — Japanese cars for the first time accounted for more than 30 percent of new automobiles sold in the United States, according to 2004 sales figures.
American consumers were drawn to energy-efficient Japanese cars due to the sharp rise in oil prices last year, the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported Wednesday, quoting local industrial sources.
The market share of Japanese automakers in the United States came to 30.5 percent in 2004, up 1.7 points from the year earlier.
Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s largest car manufacturer, sold 2.06 million cars last year in the United States, up 10 percent from the previous year. Toyota became the first company aside from the Big Three U.S. manufacturers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — to sell more than 2 million cars in the United States in a year.
The numbers of cars sold by Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. in the United States in 2004 also hit new records.
Copyright 2004 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
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