Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla sedan led car sales in January, making it the most popular model in Japan for the first time in three months, taking back the designation from Honda Motor Co.'s Fit compact car.
Sales of the Corolla, which also comes in a station wagon and hatchback versions, were 9,426 units, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a release today. Toyota also had the second-place spot with the Vitz compact car. Honda's Fit fell to sixth place, the auto group said.
Japanese consumers are opting for smaller, more fuel- efficient vehicles partly because of rising fuel prices, the dealers group said. Toyota last month sold six out of the 10 best-selling models in Japan, the world's second-biggest auto market.
Japan's vehicle sales excluding minicars declined for a seventh straight month, falling 0.5 percent to 259,753 units in January from the same month in 2005, the auto group said last week.
Nissan, the country's second biggest automaker, had three models ranked in the top ten. The company's sales began to fall in October after the effect of six new models released between September 2004 and January 2005 began to tail off. Nissan on Dec. 21 released the Bluebird Sylphy sedan.
The auto dealers group's sales ranking excludes the sales of minicars, powered with 0.66-liter engines or smaller.
Toyota shares fell 0.3 percent to 6,070 yen at the 11 a.m. lunch break on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Honda shares fell 0.4 percent to 6,770 yen. Nissan's shares were unchanged at 1,295 yen.
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