When a model is made outside its home market, it is often imported to its domestic market (the general exception is if it is made overseas to avoid import duty). Considering how many cars are made outside Japan, it's always amazed me that so few make their way into the country.
A classic example I know of is the Nissan Qashqai, designed in Europe for Europe. The first series was made in the UK and Japan (as the Dualis). It sold outstandingly in Europe but was never as popular in Japan. Peak annual sales in Japan were just over the 20,000 mark.
For the second series, it was not made in Japan as the volume presumably didn't justify the tooling up. The model was dropped from sale in Japan but sold elsewhere. Why not import instead? There was reasonable interest in it.
Against that backdrop, we see below imports for Japanese brands into Japan. Despite Nissan's not importing Qashqais, it still is the main importer of cars. For 2021 (Jan-April), 73% of such imports are by that company. It's only for one model too. Honda comes in at 18%, possibly the Civic hatch. The rest virtually nothing. Toyota has a policy of making 3 million vehicles a year at home, which it has kept for years. With falling domestic volume, that may not be possible in the future.
What is interesting is that nearly all brands that import have increased in 2021, Nissan +720% leading the way. Surely it makes sense to utilise overseas plants for models where the volume wouldn't justify local assembly. Nissan seems to be the only one who has accepted that. Maybe others will follow suit in due course.
Data source: JAIA.
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