30 August 2020

Iceland Pick Up Sales : 2015-19


Obviously Iceland doesn't have a large vehicle market numerically but pick-ups prove popular. Sales generally have been falling and this segment isn't immune to such vagaries. It has overall gained share. I've gathered all the sales together to see which do best in the light vehicle range.

Japanese brands make up the top four places as is often the case. The Isuzu D-Max was the best selling pick-up in 2010 but since then it has always been the Hilux at the top. The Ford Ranger is late to the party for whatever reason, the F-Series has a longer relationship with the island nation.

It's no secret that the German marques effort into cracking the pick-up market has been less than successful. Mercedes is leaving the festivities after a brief stay and VW is only going to continue due to taking the Ford Ranger as a donor vehicle. It wasn't as easy an area to enter and succeed in as perhaps thought.


Iceland Pick-Up Sales

Make Model 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

Toyota Hilux 140 292 321 187 142

Nissan Navara 81 87 123 53 -

Mitsubishi Triton 36 62 62 16 -

Isuzu D-Max 21 27 28 39 45

Ford Ranger 13 - 49 - -

VW Amarok 12 9 14 47 10

Mercedes X-Class 7 11 - - -

Ford F-Series 4 12 4 17 -

RAM 1500 - 3 5 2 2

GMC Canyon - - - 1 -

For more on pick-ups, try these if you wish.

2019: Australia/New Zealand/South Africa 

2015-19: Belgium Denmark France Iceland Italy Sweden United Kingdom

Argentina Brazil Indonesia Thailand

2015: World Top 50

18 August 2020

Japan Sales 2019 (Without Kei Car)


I've talked about the kei car situation in Japan and how after sales peaked in 2014, the government reduced benefits for this class. This caused a modest drop in the class so Japanese manufacturers that depend on them have started to broaden their range into the regular class of car. Their is still much work for some of them to do if dependence on kei cars is to be lessened.

Below is a chart of 2019 sales of the top twelve selling brands without kei car registrations included. The colums with a 'T' represent what the total market is and 'K' without kei sales. For example Suzuki was 3rd ranked for total sales but drops to 5th when the kei category is removed. Its share likewise drops, from 12.9% to 4.3%.

From this we see that as Toyota doesn't do much with kei cars, without them in the equation it's share jumps to 47%. Mazda, Subaru and Lexus also fare much better. They are shaded in a green colour. Yellow represents those disadvantaged, with Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Daihatsu the more so. Import brands have three to add perspective (shaded pale blue). They all obviously improved in their share.

This helps us to understand why brands like Suzuki and Daihatsu do so well in Japan. It also reminds us of the esteem Toyota has in the country. They take nearly half of regular car sales. In addition, as Toyota doesn't sell premium cars under its brand name, so by taking premium sales away from the list leaves Toyota with 52% of mainstream car sales! As Toyota is going to make changes to how it sells cars through its four outlet chains, it will be interesting to see if and what affect that will have on its share.



T K Brand 2019 K T


1 1 Toyota 1,329,069 47.1% 31.5%


2 2 Honda 357,252 12.7% 15.4%


5 3 Nissan 304,862 10.8% 10.9%


6 4 Mazda 152,428 5.4% 4.2%


3 5 Suzuki 122,028 4.3% 12.9%


7 6 Subaru 105,075 3.7% 2.8%


9 7 Mercedes 66,524 2.4% 1.5%


10 8 Lexus 62,394 2.2% 1.5%


11 9 BMW 47,023 1.7% 1.1%


12 10 VW 46,791 1.7% 1.1%


8 11 Mitsubishi 46,474 1.6% 2.1%


4 12 Daihatsu 43,609 1.5% 11.8%

17 August 2020

Kei Car Sales (By Brand) : 2015-19

The Daihatsu Tanto is a popular kei model

As mentioned in part one of the series, benefits for kei car ownership were scales back, and the percentage they commanded slipped from 42% to 38%. Not a seismic shift by any means but still noticeable. The two brands with most to lose slightly lessened their dependence on such models.

In 2019, Had two models in excess of 100,000 registrations (the Tanto & Move), while Suzuki only got one (the Spacia). Honda had its N-Box exceeding a quarter of a million sales and the Nissan Dayz went over the 150,000 mark.

Toyota has a small interest in the kei category, it still seems happy to leave that to its subsidiary brand Daihatsu. As for Toyota's four separate chains of car dealers, that's going to change as the size of the market continues to fall. Their ranges will be be more integrated to save on cost.

I presume the Suzuki Spacio is spacious within

The kei car remains a popular car in Japan. I can see that as a diminutive car in a congested city the logic of ownership. The fact they make them look funky as well no doubt adds to the appeal. I could see them having some export potential and they have on occasion done OK in that regard. The fact that they take over a third of total sales is impressive, even allowing for incentives.

Brand / Year 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Daihatsu 464,148 460,667 459,783 439,886 466,517
Kei % 91 93 94 98 100
Suzuki 433,499 441,098 410,785 379,278 427,233
Kei % 78 78 79 79 85
Honda 304,191 325,370 314,830 303,353 317,166
Kei % 46 46 45 44 45
Nissan 161,894 145,853 141,333 114,955 175,623
Kei % 35 29 29 26 36
Mitsubishi 45,595 45,929 43,424 37,436 47,815
Kei % 50 50 55 52 55
Mazda 29,238 32,873 29,929 29,581 34,570
Kei % 16 17 16 17 16
Subaru 15,892 18,218 20,935 19,360 23,567
Kei % 13 13 13 14 16
Toyota 24,669 25,627 22,284 21,061 18,554
Kei % 2 2 2 2 1
Total 1,479,455 1,495,961 1,443,635 1,345,240 1,511,398
Kei % 37 37 35 35 38

In following the boxy kei car theme of late, the Nissan Dayz.
It left me dazed too.

16 August 2020

Kei Car Sales (By Brand) : 2010-14

The N-Box hit a sweet spot as far as the Japanese car buying public were concerned. Obviously not designed for open road driving

The Kei car market gained its share of the market, going from 32% in 2010 to 42% in 2014. Suzuki and Daihatsu still dominated. Suzuki had four models exceeding 100,000 sales and Daihatsu three. However, honda made a big move due to the introduction of the N-Box model. Nissan had the Dayz while the eK model was very important to Mitsubishi, accounting for over half of the brand's registrations in the country.

To explain how Toyota are so strong in Japan without resorting to kei cars is as follows. Four dealership chains handle Toyota's domestic sales. Those named "Toyota" dealers sell premium vehicles, "Toyopet" dealers champion medium-priced cars, "Corolla" dealers purvey mainstream models, and "Netz" dealers aim to woo younger drivers. Each of the afore mentioned chains has exclusive vehicles.

Brand / Year 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010
Suzuki 555,706 479,479 442,057 360,327 425,620
Kei % 88 86 83 82 88
Daihatsu 545,871 516,725 548,291 426,567 471,414
Kei % 100 100 99 99 99
Honda 369,772 373,128 288,648 98,477 114,794
Kei % 45 51 41 21 19
Nissan 210,847 153,591 123,746 122,208 123,730
Kei % 37 27 22 24 22
Mitsubishi 59,589 52,984 47,963 56,499 66,532
Kei % 58 50 45 52 50
Mazda 46,376 46,425 41,671 35,066 38,903
Kei % 23 23 22 21 20
Subaru 27,074 38,030 32,995 33,716 43,604
Kei % 18 23 23 31 36
Toyota 23,756 29,708 32,284 5,866
Kei % 2 2 2 1
Total 1,839,356 1,690,429 1,557,990 1,139,056 1,284,931
Kei % 42 39 36 34 32