Japan is seen as an industrial miracle of post war years. They set about systematically improving their products and searching for markets to sell in. They cooperated in a way the west would think was uncompetitive. It worked and Japan became a leading car making country.
As volumes reached numbers that could lead to a consumer backlash overseas, they set up factories to avoid that. If nations restricted car imports, they built factories there too, to get a vice like grip on those markets. That is why you will notice a drop in Japanese production from the middle of the chart, overseas plants opening. The big fall in commercial vehicle numbers will be because of production being moved to Asian nations.
| Year | Vehicle | Car | CV | % CV | |
| 1960 | 481,000 | 165,000 | 316,000 | 65.7% | |
| 1965 | 1,875,000 | 696,000 | 1,179,000 | 62.9% | |
| 1970 | 5,289,000 | 3,179,000 | 2,110,000 | 39.9% | |
| 1975 | 6,942,000 | 4,568,000 | 2,374,000 | 34.2% | |
| 1980 | 11,043,000 | 7,038,000 | 4,005,000 | 36.3% | |
| 1985 | 12,271,000 | 7,647,000 | 4,624,000 | 37.7% | |
| 1990 | 13,487,000 | 9,948,000 | 3,539,000 | 26.2% | |
| 1995 | 10,196,000 | 7,611,000 | 2,585,000 | 25.4% | |
| 2000 | 10,144,000 | 8,363,000 | 1,781,000 | 17.6% | |
| 2005 | 10,800,000 | 9,017,000 | 1,783,000 | 16.5% | |
| 2010 | 9,626,000 | 8,307,000 | 1,319,000 | 13.7% | |
| 2014 | 9,774,000 | 8,277,000 | 1,497,000 | 15.3% |
Summary: The careful and diligent way Japan approached production and export was learnt from the West, but not done in the West. Despite high costs associated with car assembly in Japan, efficiencies and a government policy of keeping the Yen undervalued has allowed a large number of vehicles to continue to be made there.
Data source: JAMA.
Data source: JAMA.
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