With most car factories and dealerships still shuttered, Japanese automakers posted a 21.3 percent year-on-year decline in global sales in June, the fourth straight month of double-digit declines.Japan's seven biggest automakers, including Toyota and Nissan motor Co., sold 1.88 million vehicles in June, down from 2.39 million a year earlier. 

    However, the monthly sales decline for the seven carmakers has narrowed from a 50 per cent drop in April and a 38 per cent drop in May.In addition, global production fell 26.1 per cent in June from a year earlier to 1.56m vehicles, compared with a 62 per cent drop reported in May. 

    Car sales are falling in almost every region of the world, with North America and Europe hardest hit, but China is the only bright spot, with Toyota, Nissan and Mazda all reporting sales gains. 

    Toyota sold 4.16 million vehicles in the first half of this year, down 21.6% from the same period last year, but still the world's largest sales volume in the first half, according to data released by Toyota Motor Corporation.The company said that in terms of global sales, "we are on an upswing" and expect to return to year-ago levels by early 2021. 

    Nissan's global sales in the first half of this year were 180.74 units, down 31.2% from the same period last year.Sales fell 24.2 per cent in Japan and 32.2 per cent outside Japan.Nissan expects global sales to fall to 4.13m vehicles in the year to March, from 4.93m last year, and revenues to fall by a fifth to Y7.8tn. It also faces a loss of $4.5bn. 

    Mitsubishi Motors reported an operating loss of y53.3 billion for the fiscal first quarter from April to June, its second in the past three quarters.Mitsubishi expects to face an operating loss of Y140bn ($1.33bn) by March next year.That would be Mitsubishi's biggest loss in at least 18 years, according to the company's financial records since 2002. 

    Notably, Mitsubishi said it would reduce its operations in Europe and North America.For the European market, the company announced on July 27 that Mitsubishi would stop selling new models in Europe at the end of the life cycle of its existing products to focus on growth in Asia. 

    Mazda also lost Y45.3 billion ($433 million) in the April-June period, an 11-year low, as sales fell 31 percent to 244,000 vehicles, hurt by falling demand in Japan and Europe. 

    Mazda expects global sales to fall 8 per cent to 1.3m vehicles in the fiscal year to March, the lowest in seven years, and for the full year to record operating losses.Mazda's sales in China rose 13% in The april-June period as the Chinese market became a bright spot against the global downturn.