Japan July 2016: Toyota up to 35.2%, Nissan Dayz & Mitsubishi eK back

The facelifted Estima (+117%) helps Toyota gain 10% at home in July.

* See the Top 55 All-brands, Top 30 cars and Top 35 kei cars by clicking on the title *

New vehicle sales in Japan are down 2% in July to 415.606, once again – but less than in previous months – handicapped by weak kei car sales down 6% to 133.853 while regular cars are down just 0.2% to 281.753. Year-to-date, the Japanese market is now down 3.5% to 2.962.955 sales in 7 months, with kei cars down 13% to 1.039.327 and regular cars up 0.5% to 1.923.628.

An all-new lineup propels Smart sales up 34-fold year-on-year in Japan in July. 

Toyota tightens its grip on its home market even further with deliveries up 10% to 146.328 for a mammoth 35.2% share vs. 30.5% so far in 2016. Honda (-11%) and Suzuki (-4%) follow while Daihatsu gains 11% in 4th place ahead of Nissan (-22%), Mazda (-21%) and Subaru (-13%) all posting heavy losses. Isuzu (+13%), Mercedes (+15%), Hino (+9%), BMW (+14%), Mini (+14%), Volvo (+5%) and Jeep (+41%) also deliver year-on-year gains inside the Top 20 while further down Porsche (+18%), Peugeot (+54%), Smart (+3338%) and Jaguar (+151%) impress.

The Toyota Passo (right) is up 118% thanks to two new models.

The Toyota Prius remains by far the best-selling nameplate in the country with sales up 3-fold on a year ago to 27.988 thanks to the new model. The Toyota Aqua (-11%) and Sienta (+48%) follow while the Nissan Note (+2%) gains two spots on June to #4. The Toyota Passo (+118%), Vitz (+7%), Honda Vezel (+8%) and Shuttle (+11%) are the only other cars gaining ground year-on-year inside the Top 15. Further down, notice the Suzuki Solio (+69%), Mazda Axela (+77%), Toyota Estima (+111%) helped by its facelift, Honda Odyssey (+117%) and Toyota Auris (+99%) posting spectacular gains. The Nissan Serena, #10 in June, steps out of the Top 30 while the new model spreads out into dealerships across the country.

Deliveries of Nissan Dayz and Mitsubishi eK (pictured) have resumed in Japan. 

In the kei car aisle, both the Honda N-BOX (+10%) and Daihatsu Tanto (+9%) post positive year-on-year results atop the sales charts, but the big news is the return in the ranking of the Nissan Dayz (#4) and Mitsubishi eK (#13) whose sales were halted in the wake of the fuel economy scandal that engulfed Mitsubishi back in April. The Suzuki Alto (-16%), Daihatsu Move (-19%) and Suzuki Wagon R (-37%) all crumble down but the Suzuki Spacia (+34%) and Honda N-WGN (+2%) improve while the new Daihatsu Cast steps out of the Top 10 (#11).

Previous post: Japan First Half 2016: Japan victim of fuel economy scandal

Previous month: Japan June 2016: Nissan, Mazda & Mitsubishi pull market down

One year ago: Japan July 2015: New generation lifts Toyota Sienta to #8

Full July 2016 Top 55 All-brands, Top 30 cars and Top 35 kei cars below.