Tokyo - Japan's major carmakers on Thursday reported sharp declines in their global vehicle output for the business year that ended March 31 as demand for cars declined amid the economic downturn across the world. Toyota Motor Corp said its global production dropped 18.2 per cent year-on-year to 7.1 million units and its domestic output was down 20.4 per cent to 3.4 million vehicles.

Japan's leading automaker saw domestic sales fall 24.9 per cent to 1.33 million units and exports decline 21 per cent to 2.14 million units.

The Toyota group, which includes Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors, reported global vehicle output of 8.09 million units, a decline of 16.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co suffered its first fall in global car production in 12 years with 3.57 million units for the past fiscal year, down 9.6 per cent from the year before.

Honda's overseas output was down 8.7 per cent to 2.43 million units, and its domestic production also dipped 11.4 per cent to 1.15 million units.

Domestic sales declined 9.4 per cent to 580,146 units, and exports sank 17.6 per cent to 573,561 units.

Nissan Motor Co also reported a large drop in global car production, down 16.9 per cent to 2.92 million units.

Overseas production shrank 17 per cent to 1.87 million units while domestic output slipped 16.8 per cent to 1.05 million units.

Domestic sales were down 15.1 per cent to 612,482 units, and exports totaled 624,486 units, down 13.9 per cent.

In March, global output at Japan's top three automakers remained slow compared with the same month a year before.

Toyota's output plunged 49.9 per cent to 392,882 units, and Honda suffered a production decline of 37.6 per cent to 215,773 units while Nissan saw a 44.9-per-cent drop to 172,195 units. (dpa)