On August 28th, Toyota released its Friday data, revealing a simultaneous decrease in global car sales and production for the month of July. This downturn was primarily attributed to sluggish sales in China, the United States, and the Middle East, despite a robust performance in the Japanese market that ultimately fell short of offsetting the overall decline. Specifically, global sales witnessed a 4.8% year-on-year drop, reaching 856,125 units, while production experienced a 2.1% decrease. Notably, sales in China plummeted by 24.3%, marking the sixth consecutive month of decline. In the U.S. market, sales dipped slightly by 0.8%, whereas the Middle East region saw a significant 44.5% tumble in sales. Although the Japanese market exhibited an 11.0% rise in sales, this increase was insufficient to reverse the prevailing downward trend.

In terms of production, despite a notable 12.4% surge in Japan, production in China took a severe hit, plummeting by 32.7%. Similarly, the U.S. experienced a 4.0% decline in production, culminating in an overall decrease in global production. It is worth mentioning that Japanese car exports demonstrated resilience, increasing by 10.2% year-on-year and slightly surpassing 196,000 units. This marked the third consecutive month of growth and reached a new high since October.