North Kyushu Auto Production Drops 14% in 2008
The aggregate automobile production by the three automakers in northern Kyushu in FY 2008 stood at 961,000 units, a 14.7% drop from the previous year and a decline to a level near FY 2005 production. It is the first year-on-year production drop in four years, and the first time fewer than one million units have been produced in three years. The outlook for the current fiscal year suggests that a return to the one-million-unit level is unlikely.