TOKYO - Japanese automakers saw a 34% fall in global vehicle sales in March when the coronavirus outbreak began to spread globally, and face a further tumble in the coming months.

Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co, Honda Motor Co and the country's four other major automakers posted retail sales of around 1.82 million cars worldwide, down from around 2.77 million a year earlier.

For the financial year ended March, their combined global sales fell 7.3% to 26.5 million vehicles, their lowest in 4 years, Reuters calculations showed based on individual automaker sales figures announced on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; editing by Jason Neely) ((naomi.tajitsu@thomsonreuters.com; +81364411078; Reuters Messaging: naomi.tajitsu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))