Just when Detroit seemed to be luring them away, Americans are embracing Japanese cars again.
Toyota and Honda lost ground last year after the Japanese earthquake limited their supplies. But July's U.S. sales show they've nearly regained what they lost, at the expense of GM and Ford.
GM sales fell 6 percent and Ford sales were down 4 percent compared with last July. Honda's sales were up 45 percent and Toyota jumped 26 percent. Overall car and truck sales rose 9 percent to 1.15 million, according to Autodata Corp.
"Toyota and Honda have regained all of the share they lost, and much faster than we thought they would," said Jesse Toprak, vice president of market intelligence for the car buying site TrueCar.com. "Their customers appear to be a lot more loyal than we gave them credit for."
Toprak and others thought that newer, better products at GM and Ford, like the Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus small cars, might permanently pull customers away from the Japanese after the earthquake disrupted their supplies.
Toyota had virtually no Prius hybrids to sell last summer, for example.
At the Nagoya Castle compound in central Japan, restoration work has been completed on the entrance and reception room of the main residential building for the first time in 70 years. (NHK )
The government of Japan has bestowed one of that nation's highest honors on a Japanese-American, a former U.S. Soldier and World War II veteran, for his work furthering relationships between the Japanese and Americans. (army.mil )
Osaka District Court accepted a claim on Thursday that losses on betting on horse racing should be deductible from payouts to calculate taxable income. (Jiji Press )
An 18-year-old youth has been arrested on a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly hit a 16-year-old girl in the head with a baseball bat. (Japan Today )
This Monday, members of the seminal metal band X Japan were in Odaiba rubbing shoulders with the likes of Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga and AKB48′s Yuko Oshima. The catch? They were all made out of wax. (Japan Times )
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced that it intends to draw up a set of unified rules for the use of baby strollers on buses and trains. (Japan Today )
A man stabbed his ex-wife on a street in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday morning, and then caused a car crash while he was fleeing from the scene. (Japan Today )
At the Nagoya Castle compound in central Japan, restoration work has been completed on the entrance and reception room of the main residential building for the first time in 70 years. (NHK 
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Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday raided an Internet casino in Shibuya Ward for offering illegal gambling. (Tokyo Reporter 
The government of Japan has bestowed one of that nation's highest honors on a Japanese-American, a former U.S. Soldier and World War II veteran, for his work furthering relationships between the Japanese and Americans. (army.mil 
Osaka District Court accepted a claim on Thursday that losses on betting on horse racing should be deductible from payouts to calculate taxable income. (Jiji Press 
Eighty-year-old Yuichiro Miura has become the oldest person to scale Mount Everest, his management office said Thursday. (Japan Times 
An 18-year-old youth has been arrested on a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly hit a 16-year-old girl in the head with a baseball bat. (Japan Today 
This Monday, members of the seminal metal band X Japan were in Odaiba rubbing shoulders with the likes of Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga and AKB48′s Yuko Oshima. The catch? They were all made out of wax. (Japan Times 
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced that it intends to draw up a set of unified rules for the use of baby strollers on buses and trains. (Japan Today 
A man stabbed his ex-wife on a street in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday morning, and then caused a car crash while he was fleeing from the scene. (Japan Today 
Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito will visit Spain for seven days from June 10, the government said Tuesday. (Jiji Press