NEW YORK: Three major Japanese automakers saw their sales of new automobiles in the United States plunge in the January-March quarter from a year before, according to their announcements Friday.

The automakers — Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. — continued to see their sales hampered by shortages of automobile parts such as semiconductors.

The drop was also a reaction to strong sales a year before, when economic activity began to resume after being held up by the novel coronavirus crisis.

Toyota’s US sales sank 14.7 pct to 514,592 units, with sales of its mainstay RAV4 SUV dropping 11.4 pct.

But the automaker continued to beat US auto giant General Motors Co. in new vehicle sales in the United States for the fourth consecutive quarter.

GM’s new auto sales fell 20.1 pct to 512,846 units.

Honda’s US sales plunged 23.2 pct to 266,418 units. A Honda official said that the automaker is “continuing to take action to maximize production despite not yet resolving” issues regarding parts supply chains.

Nissan’s sales plummeted 29.6 pct to 201,081 units.

JIJI Press