Japan Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-Apr)

Registrations were up 13% in April and 13% YTD as well. Import brands were +12% and +6% respectively. 

Import brands made up 5.6% of total registrations. In an open market such as this, it defies what happens anywhere else. 

Toyota and Daihatsu suffered in 2024 due to scandal but both are returning to normal volumes again. 

It was Japanese competition that benefitted and they are now the ones slipping back. Mazda is an exception with market share up although it is a small player here.

Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi have lost share so far but VW and Porsche are currently well up. Land Rover and Tesla are both up too, the latter is a reasonably accurate estimate. 

The top selling models were:

Honda N-Box - 73,712

Toyota Yaris / Y Cross - 63,243

Suzuki Spacia - 60,399

Toyota Corolla - 57,386

Daihatsu Tanto - 45,316

Toyota Sienta - 41,082

Honda Freed - 35,355

Toyota Alphard - 35,511

Daihatsu Move - 32,686

Toyota Prius - 32,426

Nissan Note - 30,881

Suzuki Hustler - 31,721

Toyota Aqua - 30,816

For 2024 articles, simply click on the links below:

By brand. 

Top 50 Models.

Data source: JAMA, JAIDA.

Honda N-Box : 2011-24

Japan Top 50 Models : 2023/24

Japan has an open car market without tariff protection, yet the entire Top 50 are Japanese models. The list below is coloured as follows: Toyota Group blue, Nissan-Mitsubishi green, Honda maroon, Suzuki gold, Subaru and Mazda yellow. 

There are a few things I would have done differently had the source obliged. The Corolla and Yaris have the crossover combined with the car version as maybe the Crown. The Land Cruisers variants appear to be combined too. No matter, as the list otherwise is fine and hopefully informative. 

The Honda N-Box yet again leads the sales although it did drop 11% on last year. The Suzuki Spacia had a good season. Scandal hit Toyota Group suffered accordingly as happens in Japan because it's important to save face or mentsu if that can be applied to a company.

Above is the Honda Freed, up 10%. Below is the Suzuki Solio. up 9%.

Japanese Brand Imports : 2024

I have always wondered why Asian countries like Japan set up factories overseas but don't import many or any of them. Japan has been doing it to varying degrees so what was 2024 like in this regard. I don't have a model breakdown but can supply brands. 

Nearly 76,000 Japanese brand cars entered the country, 60% of them Hondas which I assume are probably the Civic model. Nissan was next with just over 14,000 units, probably the Kicks. The others I'd have no idea. 

The 2024 number was the best since 1996, which was at the end of a three year period when imports of such cars was unusually high. In other words, 2024 was the fourth highest year for domestic brand importation. 

As for trucks, I think they are of the smaller variety which are popular in Asia. This year they took a 45% tumble. That was the lowest since 2017 from when after some better than average years followed.

Summary: So just over 90,000 vehicles in total were involved. As the passenger car imports are variable, it's anyone's guess as to 2025 numbers. I'd also like to know more about which models are involved.  

Japan Passenger Car Sales : 2024

Scandals don't go down well in Japan. The culture is about face and losing it brings shame. Open apology and remorse mitigates some of the lost face but not all of it. That's how I see things but I'm not an expert in Japanese culture.

Daihatsu was recently exposed for fraudulent vehicle testing. Production was halted for months as a result as the sales data below clearly shows. Toyota is the owner of Daihatsu and they haven't been immune to the fallout with claims against falsified safety testing. Mazda obtains cars from them and may have been affected but less than the other two mentioned.

The Daihatsu Tanto Fun Cross (on the right) sums things up rather well. No fun for the company and no doubt has made the parent company Toyota very cross. It could be a while before Daihatsu is out of the woods over this scandal.

The data below shows Toyota sales were down 6% Daihatsu is much worse, of course, with a 41% reduction in market share. Mazda is down 15%.

This has enabled other Japanese brands unaffected by the scandal to improve their situation markedly. Things will gradually return to what they were before but damage is done for some time to reputation and hurts financially.  

In summary, total registrations were -7% for December and the full year. Import brands were -13% in December and -9% for the complete year so they did slightly worse. Toyota's loss has been to the benefit of other local brands, not imports (as expected), the latter are mainly premium marques so not competing against Toyota in any case.  

Data source: JAMA, JAIA.

Kei High Rider Sales Japan : 2015-23

Kei cars take over a third of the car market in Japan. Their uniqueness means that this slice of the Japanese market is not accessed by foreign brands. There aren't that many models and some are shared between brands to keep them profitable. The government plays its part by providing incentives to assist with their popularity. 

This group of Kei cars are the tallest of them, around the 1.74 metres and slightly taller. Although all are just 3.395 metres long, this gives a surprising amount of room. 

The Honda N-Box (top pic) is the best selling of not only Kei but all cars in Japan. It was introduced at the end of 2011 and was the top selling model in 2012 so an instant hit. 

The Daihatsu Tanto is the second best selling Kei car and the third overall. It arrived at the end of 2003 so it seems to be the first of this very tall Kei style. 

Suzuki's Spacia (lower pic) is the third strongest selling Kei and sixth overall. When introduced in 2008, it was called the Palette but when the second generation came out in 2013, it was given the Spacia moniker. 

The Nissan Dayz Roox arrived in 2014 but simply as the Roox from 2020.  As there is a Nissan Dayz also, I assume the name change was to differentiate the models. It is made by Mitsubishi and it's a very solid selling car. 

Now we enter pancake territory with little to separate the cars. There are shared with larger selling brands and sell in limited numbers.

The Mitsubishi eK Space which is the donor model for the Roox sells in much smaller numbers. That's not surprising as Nissan is a much larger brand in Japan. The Mazda Flair Wagon is basically the Suzuki Spacia and sold since 2013. Finally the Subaru Chiffon, using the Daihatsu Tanto so as to have an offering in this segment. It was introduced in 2017. 

Summary: I find them quirky and yet fascinating too. I would be tempted to own one but they only come to New Zealand in very limited numbers as used imports. 

Land Rover Japan / Korea Sales Comparison : 2009-2023

Two and a half years ago I did an article on this which included Jaguar. I'm updating this but for this one, it's just Land Rover. Have the past 30 months added much? Indeed it has so let's take a look at each country separately. 

Korea: There was progressive increases up until 2018. What happened then I don't know. I do know that in Korea importers can't be too successful or authorities get shall we say watchful. I don't have an inside story but sales tumbled without an obvious cause. 2023 saw a useful increase and 2024 will interesting.

Japan: Sales were neck and neck until 2014 when Korea bolted but Japan had modest gains. Japan's avoidance of a sales collapse stands in contrast to its regional neighbour. With supplies of the Defender in particular improved in 2023, a sudden jump not seen before occurred. 

Summary: What happened in Korea will never become common knowledge and it doesn't have to. It's their business and I'd rather hear nothing than be fed half truth or misleading spin. What we can say with absolute confidence is that 2023 was good for Land Rover in both countries. 

Japan Top 70 Passenger Cars : 2023

The top selling models are Japanese and I've colour coded them to show regular green), Kei (yellow) and import (blue) car models. I do find Kei cars fascinating and wonder why they aren't exported more. I think the reason could be they wouldn't get government assistance like they do in Japan so not as attractive costwise. In addition, they are city cars or best suited to that environment rather than open, twisting roads.  

Honda holds the top ranking and has done so since it took over in 2017. It shows no sign of surrender either. Toyota and its subsidiary brand Daihatsu take the next four places. Even combining the Yaris and Yaris Cross (not done by me) isn't enough to topple the champion. The list is repetitive brand wise but that is how dominant local manufacturers are here. 

Two imports make the list, the full MINI range of which the one model would probably make it anyway, albeit a lower down the ranking. The Golf also makes it while the Mercedes-Benz C-Class just misses out. 

Japan Passenger Car Sales : 2023

Registrations for December were up 6% and for the year +16%. Import foreign brands were up just 3% YTD and +2% in December. Import sales of non Japanese makes accounted for just 6.2% of sales. For an unprotected market, that is a very low figure. It's achieved through the encouragement of Kei cars, Toyota's reputation and loyalty to local brands.

Toyota took 34.5% of sales, its highest since the early 1990's. Understandably, most other brands lost share as a result. Lexus and Land Rover emphatically bucked the trend with impressive market share gains. The 'Diff' column shows market share change which makes their actual sales increase much higher.

For imports BMW and VW have been doing the 11-12 shuffle. As mentioned, Land Rover is getting stock and moving back up again. China's BYD has arrived and Hyundai is trying to make some progress in a market it struggles in. The Tesla figure is an educated estimate. 

Data source: JAMA, JAIA.

Japan Top 50 Model Sales : 2022

The list below combines regular sales with Kei mini cars. The data is not released that way but combined here. No imports are shown as none usually qualify although the best selling list for them hasn't yet been released. The better selling are premium cars and less likely to hit the chart below. 

One cannot overstate how limited import model sales are. It's achieved by strong nationalistic loyalty, preferential treatment to the Kei car category that excludes anything imported and possibly a few other less obvious ways. 

The top model for 2022 is the Honda N-Box. Even the combined sales of the Yaris and Yaris Cross couldn't prevent it. Still, Toyota/Daihatsu models are the dominant force. The colours below are for regular and Kei car models and that shows how strong the Kei category is. 

Japan Sales : 2022

A charging unit on the roadside is interesting

Registrations for December were +1% and for 2022 were -6%. Not too much difference in the end. The '+/- diff' column below is for market share change. 

Toyota, Daihatsu and Lexus all slipped slightly which is interesting as they are all the same company. All the other Japanese brands increased, presumably taking advantage of Toyota's loss. 

Mercedes remains the strongest selling import brand, even outdoing local premium Lexus. The Tesla figure is an educated estimate. Hyundai has been trying to get a toe hold in the market and it will be interesting to see if it can make something of this latest push.

Data source: JAIA, JAMA.

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.