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

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%

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.

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