Japan Kei cars Full Year 2012: Daihatsu Mira puts an end to Suzuki Wagon R’s 9 year-reign

Daihatsu Mira es

* See the Top 25 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

Excellent year for new Kei cars sales in Japan: up whopping 30% to 1,979,447 registrations. For a bit of perspective, this is more than the entire French market this year (1,898,872 sales) and just under the UK new car market (2,044,609 units). Earthquake on top: after 9 consecutive years of Suzuki Wagon R domination, the Daihatsu Mira takes the lead for the first time this year thanks to sales up an extraordinary 82% on 2011 to 218,295 units. The Mira ranked #1 XX times this year and peaked at a huge 29,721 sales in March. It was a tight fight however with the big surprise of 2012: the Honda NBOX. Launched in December 2011, the NBOX manages to top the ranking in April and ranked #1 8 of the last 9 months of the year, finishing 2012 at a massive 211,155 sales.

Daihatsu Mira Cocoa

This means the Suzuki Wagon R, leader for the last 9 consecutive years, is down to #3 at 195,701 units even though it is up 22% year-on-year. The Daihatsu Tanto is down one spot to #4 at 170,608 sales, followed by the Daihatsu Move down 3 at 146,016 units and the Suzuki Alto down one but up 35% to 112,002 sales. Notice also the Toyota Pixis Space up 12 spots to a still relatively disappointing 12th position and the Honda N-One landing directly at #18, selling just under 10,000 units in November.

Previous post: Japan Kei cars December 2012: Honda NBOX leads for the 8th time

Previous year: Japan Kei cars Full Year 2011: Suzuki Wagon R celebrates 9 years on top

Full Year 2012 Top 25 Ranking Table below.