Japanese carmakers Toyota and Honda continue to struggle in the US as they report weaker-than-expected sales for October.

日本汽车厂商丰田和本田十月份在美国的销售额低于预期。

Toyota's sales dropped 8% due to a shortage in supply of its Corolla cars, while Honda's numbers fell 0.5% from a year earlier.

Sales of the two firms have dipped in the US after the quake and tsunami¹ hurt their production earlier this year.

However, Nissan reported an 18% jump in sales during the period.

"I know I predicted at the start of this month that October sales would exceed year-ago levels. That was an aggressive goal," said Bob Carter, head of Toyota brand sales for the US.

Growth concerns

Overall car sales in the US increased by 7.5% during the month, with Volkswagen and Chrysler reporting the biggest gains with 40% and 27% respectively.

But despite those numbers there are concerns about the long term prospects² of the sector³, not least due to fears of a slowdown in the US economy and the debt crisis in Europe.

"We don't have a strong recovery to begin with and the last thing it needs is a couple of body blows," said Paul Ballew of Insurer Nationwide.

"Every time this industry starts to feel better about itself, you kind of look at the world around and gulp⁴（一大口，吞咽） ," he added.

However, Al Castignetti, Nissan's US sales chief, said that despite concerns of a global economic slowdown, car sales in the US may hit their highest level in the last three months of the year.

"We've been dealing⁵ with this all year," he said. "People have been conditioned to deal with the headlines."