Toyota Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Toyota's place in the Japanese mind is reverential. It does nothing more than dabble in the Kei class despite it being a third ofall sales. It leaves that to Daihatsu and concentrates on the rest of the market which it takes close to half of. It runs dealerships in groupings, so some models shared across these with some minor variances. The Voxy - Noah - Esquire MPV is a classic case of that. 

The top selling combo is the Roomy-Tank mini MPV range (pic above), with 135,000 registrations. The Tank was discontinued in 2020 and all but a few registrations for 2021 were the Roomy. They are supplied by Daihatsu (sold as the Thor) and it also goes to Subaru under the Justy name. 

Next the are Voxy-Noah- Esquire range (pic left - 129,000) the Yaris (106,000) and Yaris Cross (104,000). The Alphard - Vellfire large MPV models nearly reached 102,000 sales. The strong sales continue down the list.

The few Kei models are highlighted in yellow and make up just 2% of all registrations. Most are sold as unrelated Pixis models. They are all supplied by Daihatsu apart from the C + Pod, a tiny electric car (picture above on narrow road). 

Because the model sales and total figure are not from the same source, I had to include an adjustment at the bottom of the list. 

Suzuki Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Suzuki does small very well and has made it a profitable arrangement, which isn't easy to do. The Japanese government encourages small with their Kei car class and surprise, surprise Suzuki is at the forefront of that segment. 

Yellow is used below to highlight Kei models and they make up 80% of all domestic registrations. The Spacia crossover MPV (hard to classify some of these - pic above) leads the way with 129,000 units finding new homes. Then comes the Hustler (right - 82,500) and Wagon R (below - 69,000). Finally the first 'regular' model at 4th. 

Suzuki supplies Mazda with no less than five Kei models, Nissan and Mitsubishi one Kei car each plus Mitsubishi one regular donor car. They take a Nissan for the Landy model. Keeping up? Suzuki is supplies other brands in a big way although none of them are in large numbers.

Subaru Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Subaru is a niche brand in most markets and that's how it is in Japan too. No model sells outstandingly but four do in reasonable numbers for a brand this size. It doesn't do much with Kei cars, just 11% of the total and it seems they are there to have just a presence in that sector.

Total sales were down slightly but mirrored the market as a whole. The oddly named Levorg was the best selling with 25,500 registered through the year. The Forester is close behind (23,000), the XV ironically accounted for 15,000 sales and the Impreza/WRX 11,500.

All three Kei models (shaded yellow below) are sourced from Daihatsu. The Chiffon is the Daihatsu Tanto, Pleo Plus the Mira e:S and the Stella the Daihatsu Move. The Daihatsu Thor is taken into the range and called the Justy but that isn't a Kei model. 

Nissan Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Registrations in 2021 were 369,000 including 142,700 Kei cars or 39% of the total. The Roox, Dayz and NV100 Clipper are the Kei range, the first two made are for Nissan by Mitsubishi and the NV100 by Suzuki. The Kicks model is imported from Mexico I believe, but the rest are made locally. 

The best selling model is the Note (above), once made and sold in Europe. 90,000 sales for that model is impressive. The Rooz came next (left) with nearly 85,000 units registered, the Serena (bottom pic) 59,000 and Dayz 54,000. The Kicks with 35,000 rounds off the main selling models. 

Nissan supplies the Serena to Suzuki in a reciprocal arrangement, sold as the Suzuki Landy. As for the rest, they are not selling in large numbers even if some sell well overseas.  

Mitsubishi Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Mitsubishi has some overseas markets it does very well in but in a domestic market with many brands, it doesn't do well at all. The only good thing is that sales were up 12.8% but the total was down 3.5%. That's an increase of share going up from 1.6 to 1.9%. 

In the chart below the model data is from a different source than the total figure. This year the difference was more than usual, 882 units. It's only 1.3% of the 69,000 registrations and we can still see a clear picture. 

The Kei range is the two eKs and the Town box. Half of its domestic sales are Kei category. As for models supplied by others, the Delica D2 and Town Box come from Suzuki. 

The top two selling models are both eK, the eK Space (top picture) a crossover MPV (17,900 sales) and the eK hatchback (above - 16,200 sales). They are both shared with Nissan but made by Mitsubishi. The D5 MPV (left) accounted for nearly 15,000 registrations.  

Mazda Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Mazda is a small company for a mainstream brand. A recent alliance with Toyota is and will be an enormous help with technical assistance saving substantial financial outlays for new technologies. Going a bit more upmarket is a direction it is also pursuing.   

As for registrations at home, they are spread over several models which is always a sound position in any business. About 150,000 sales p.a. is where Mazda is at presently. With the local market trending downward, that's well short of its best years but understandably so. 

The Mazda2 compact hatchback (top picture) recorded 25,000 sales, The CX-5 SUV (above) 22,500 and the CX-30 crossover (left) 19,000. The CX-8 and Mazda3 both exceeded 16,000 units. Mazda sold 5,400 MX-5 roadsters.

Kei cars make up just 17% of Mazda's volume. To save on development costs they are all sourced from Suzuki. The Flair Wagon MPV (Spacia), Flair Crossover SUV (Hustler), Flair hatchback (Wagon R) pictured left and Scrum minivan (Every Wagon).

Lexus Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Toyota is such a revered name in Japan that for years Lexus models overseas were sold domestically as Toyotas. From 2005, the Lexus marque was introduced locally. It currently sells around 50,000 p.a. The RX crossover, IS small(ish) car and UX crossover are the strongest selling models all sell around the 10,000 mark. The RX has a sibling in the form of the Toyota Harrier and for the LX SUV the Land Cruiser.

The elegant RX (top picture) sold 10,800, down 3,500. The new IS (right) recorded 10,400 registrations and was up a whopping 8,500 units. The UX (pictured below) was just behind it with 9,800 sales, down by 500. 

I assume Toyota would have liked Lexus to be selling at a higher level in its home market. However, it's the only domestic premium marque with neither Infiniti nor Acura brands used here. 

Honda Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Honda tends to keep to itself rather than pursue relationships with other companies. While other brands in Japan quite frequently cooperate with model sharing, Honda isn't involved in any that I am aware of. 

With Kei sales around the third mark, Honda takes about 50% of its sales from this category. It doesn't have that many Kei models either, yellow below shows which ones. They are based around the N range, Box, WGN and ONE. Over a quarter of a million Honda Kei cars found new buyers.

It's hard to categorise some of these cars due to their unorthodox shapes. The N-BOX MPV (top) sold 189,000, Freed crossover (above) 70,000 and  Fit hatchback (right) 58,000 registrations. Two others were 50,000 plus.

Daihatsu Model Sales Japan : 2020-21

Daihatsu makes small and very reliable cars, an area where profit is not easily attained. It was a global brand but in the 2005-15 period it was gradually withdrawn from markets until it remained in just some selected Asian markets where the brand was strong. That's where it is positioned now. It was the fourth most popular brand in Japan in 2021. 

In Japan, the Kei car class is sustained with incentives to keep sales around a third of total registrations. Some brands are more involved with that section of the market than others. Daihatsu's registrations relied on this segment for 91% of its total figure in 2021. Below, yellow highlights Kei cars and green non-Kei models. 

The Tanto minivan (left) was the best selling model with 117,000 units, down 13,000 in rounded numbers. The Taft SUV styled vehicle (top picture) accounted for 62,000 sales, up nearly 20,000. The Move Canbus minivan (above) and Mira e:S hatchback car both got close to 60,000 registrations. Overall a very solid range, not too dependent on one or two for volume. 

Not included in the figures above are cars supplied to other makes. Toyota in particular takes models and to a lesser extent Subaru. More detail will be available when those brands are covered.