By Edwina Gibbs
TOKYO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Japan's top five automakers reported increases in global output for July on Tuesday, with healthy exports helping to push up domestic production figures and overseas production remaining generally strong.
Japan's fourth-largest automaker, Mitsubishi Motors Corp , showed the strongest pace of growth, with worldwide output jumping 17.2 percent from last July to 163,311 vehicles.
Strong U.S. sales of its Galant and Eclipse models and Japan sales of its eK miniwagon were responsible for the rise.
But some analysts said although Mitsubishi's volumes looked healthy, particularly in the United States, the company appeared to be aggressively using low financing deals and discounts which may hurt profitability.
"Despite gains in volumes, our enthusiasm has been limited by reports of a rise in the use of sales incentives," said Christopher Richter, auto analyst at HSBC Securities.
Second-ranked Honda Motor Co came next in July global production with a 12.8 percent rise to 240,492, while sales for Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co both climbed 8.6 percent, to 477,072 and 217,444 units respectively.
Toyota's growth was a little lower on a group basis, which includes minivehicle unit Daihatsu Motor Co and truck unit Hino Motors Ltd , rising 6.6 percent. Mazda Motor Corp saw its worldwide production increase 8.4 percent to 86,305 units.
EXPORTS HEALTHY
For Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi, exports remained healthy, rising between seven and 16 percent although they slowed after posting huge jumps the previous two months with percentage gains of between 30 to 60 percent.
The companies had mostly attributed the previous massive gains to particularly low figures the year before, when Honda concentrated on domestic sales, Mitsubishi had shipping problems and Nissan had few new models.
Toyota and Mazda, however, saw their exports gain momentum.
The new Mazda6 mid-sized sedan, as well as the Premacy wagon and the MPV minivan, pushed the nation's fifth-largest automaker's exports up 21.3 percent after a 6.4 percent rise in June.
For Toyota, a 1.5 percent drop in June exports as its French factory beefed up production of its Yaris subcompact was reversed with a 14.8 percent climb in July.
Exports of the luxury Lexus ES 300 sedan to the United States, the Camry and Landcruiser wagon to China as well as the Corolla and Landcruiser to Australia, were behind the jump.
Overall, July trade figures for Japan out last week showed auto exports up 20 percent from a year earlier.
While auto exports have been strong this year as the U.S. market, the world's biggest, performed better than expected after the September 11 attacks, many analysts expect a slowdown this year.
"The U.S. market is still going to be down this year and despite rising market share for Japanese automakers, we aren't expecting spectacular growth and inventories have also built up so there is less need to ship," said Stephen Usher at JP Morgan.
The decline in exports is expected to be offset by increased overseas production as Toyota, Honda and Nissan bring more of their new U.S. factories on line.