Japan October 2010: new Swift up to #11

Catastrophic month for car sales in Japan: it is the weakest October since 1968 with 193,258 registrations (excluding Kei cars), -27% on 2009, mostly because the government subsidy for fuel- efficient cars ended on Sept. 8.

The Toyota Prius is still safely on top with 21,769 sales, ahead of the Honda Fit (aka Jazz) and Toyota Corolla. The Honda Freed continues its excellent year in 4th: it is ahead of the Toyota Vitz (aka Yaris) for the second consecutive month.

The new generation Suzuki Swift gains 8 spots over September to land in 11th with 3,683 registrations, the Toyota Elgrand slips from 10th to 13th but is at a whopping +747% over Oct 09, and the new generation Nissan March (aka Micra) already drops 7 spots to 15th but with still +62% over last year.

With 10,943 orders in June alone compared to a monthly target of 1,300, the Nissan Juke became a victim of its success and disappeared from the Top 30 in August. It now seems to have solved part of its production problems, back in the Top 20 in 18th with 2,461 registrations in October.

The Toyota Allion is in very good shape this month in 21st at +190% over Oct 09 (pictured below).

Full Top 30 ranking table below.