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THE
emergence of a big market for Japanese cars not only on
their home turf but also abroad is really phenomenal and
worth looking into.
Japan’s
automobile manufacturing is a core industry in itself.
In its 2005 record, automotive shipments accounted for
16.5 percent of the total value of Japan’s manufacturing
shipments. Translated in numbers, that is ¥489,548
billion.
Automobiles are now the focus of an extremely wide range
of industrial and related activities in
Japan—from
materials production to sales and other diverse related
services. Out of Japan’s 63.56-million work force,
auto-related employment there today totals 4.95-million
or roughly 7.8 percent.
A big
chunk of this work force is in automotive transport.
There are 2.641 million people who are working in
road-freight transport, road-passenger transport, road
transport-related services, parking-lot operations,
vehicle rental services and warehousing. Sales and
services are next with a total manpower of 1.047 million
that are employed in automotive retailing of new and
used cars, motorcycle retailing, auto parts and
accessories retailing, auto whole-selling and auto
services.
Automobile production, which includes auto
manufacturing, auto parts and accessories manufacturing
and auto-body and trailer manufacturing, employs 819,000
while that of auto use (including auto fuel retailing,
financing and insurance) has 311,000 and materials
supply (electrical machine and equipment, nonferrous
metals, iron and steel, metal products, chemicals,
textiles and petroleum, paints, plastics, rubber and
glass, electronic parts and equipment and general
industrial machinery) accounts for 133,000,
respectively.
Since
auto manufacturing in
Japan
is an integrated industry that relies on many supporting
industries, it also makes huge investments in equipment
and research and development. And auto manufacturing is
considered as a barometer of a country’s economy. A
total of ¥67.3 billion has been earmarked as investment
in the equipment of major manufacturing sectors in Japan
as of 2006, while a total of ¥112.52 billion has been
invested in the research and development of major
manufacturing sectors as of 2005.
Japan’s
gross exports in 2006 increased by 14.6 percent and the
automotive exports accounted for a hefty 19.7-percent
increase or roughly ¥16.2 trillion, thanks to the
expanding motor vehicle, motorcycle and parts exports.
And to
show this,
Japan’s
motor vehicle production has risen for five consecutive
years. In 2006 motor vehicle production rose to 6.3
percent over 2005, or a total of 11.5 million units.
Passenger cars accounted for most of the increase as it
rose to 8.2 percent, or 9.76 million units. Within that
category, standard car production climbed 17.3 percent
to a total of 4.92 million units and minicar production
rose to 9.2 percent or 1.54 million units (although
small car production declined to 3.3 percent or 89,000
units compared with that of 2005).
Out of
the 11.5 million units produced in 2006 Japan had
exported a whopping 5,966,672 units worldwide. Compared
with the previous year, vehicles exported to North
America ballooned to 34.2 percent. A total of 2,488,373
were exported to
North America, or 41.7 percent of the total units exported by
Japan
worldwide. The Americans alone gobbled up a total of
2,261,552 units. This is the main reason Japanese cars
are already thumping those American-produced cars even
in their own backyard.
Among
those markets that have gained substantially for the
Japanese cars are South Africa and Latin American
countries. Europe is another boomer where Japan’s car
export rose to 10.8 percent. A total of 1,305,861 units
were delivered there in 2006 or 21.9 percent of the
total pie, which is Japan’s second-biggest market
worldwide. Surprisingly, the heaviest importer of
Japanese cars there were Germany (188,260 units), United
Kingdom (174,163 units), and Italy (117,729 units).
The
third-heaviest importers of Japanese cars are Middle
East countries with a total of 590,341 units delivered
in 2006. Japan also delivered 441,912 units in the
Oceania region, which is a little over the 381,561 units
delivered to the whole
Asia of the same year.
The
Philippines, the smallest importer in the Asian region,
had a total of 17,889 vehicles imported from
Japan—10,517 of these were passenger cars, 3,633 trucks,
and 3,739 buses.
While
the Chinese are the biggest passenger-car importers from
Japan with 60,706, the Malaysians are the biggest in
terms of truck importation with 23,545 units, while
Thailand (which has a total of 37,689 vehicles imported
from Japan in 2006) leads in the bus importation with
11,260. Quite mind-boggling figures indeed!
****
MY
youngest kid Juan Miguel (Migoy for short) and his
friend EJ will surely miss their playground every
Saturday when the Speedzone closes next month.
The two
friends (together with their respective parents, of
course—EJ’s Cesar and Marie—and my wife Cecil) seemed to
have been hooked on karting since last month. We were
told that the management is now looking for a new
location after it reportedly failed to secure a new
lease contract on the said place. This may be the reason
the rental karts are no longer as sparkling and shiny as
they used to be and the lights at night are no longer
shining as bright as they used to.
When the
place closes down next month, the only three remaining
kart venues here will be the Citykart in Sucat,
Parañaque, Kart Trak at the Boomland and the circuit
inside the
Enchanted
Kingdom.
Sayang naman, the place is one relatively good
(although expensive) venue for the kids on a weekend. On
the Saturdays that we were there, the place was teeming
with youngsters who were after the fun and excitement.
Just
like Migoy and EJ, they will miss the excitement on the
track when the lights close and the track is gone. |
