The Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association expects domestic sales to rise to 5.26 million in the coming year, following an expected 6.8 percent slide in the year ending this month, which would mark a second straight year of decline.

Passenger car sales received a boost in the year to April 2014, when the government raised consumption tax to 8 percent from 5 percent, the association said, while adding that any bump up this year may be limited due to a smaller rise to 10 percent expected in April 2017.

(Reporting by Maki Shiraki; Editing by Stephen Coates)