Japan Imports Q3 2014: Mercedes C-Class up to third place

Mercedes C-Class

* See the Top 20 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Stephen *

Potentially the sign of a longer-term recovery, sales of imported cars in Japan are up year-on-year for the first time since the April 2014 tax hike at +3% in September to 32.810 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 213.535 units, up 5% on 2013. In the models ranking, the VW Golf remains on top for the third quarter in spite of sales down 5% year-on-year to 5.981 and adding up to 23.807 so far in 2014 (#26 overall). Mini stays in second place with 4.331 units (+6%), this includes Countryman and Paceman sales. The big changes comes in third position: ousting the BMW 3 Series from the podium, the Mercedes C-Class is up 3 spots on last quarter and 43% year-on-year to #3 and 4.138 sales as the new model went on sale in Japan on July 7.

Mercedes GLA

Another Mercedes makes its debut in the ranking directly at #11: the all-new GLA class which went on sale at the end of May and misses out on a Top 10 spot for just 16 units at 1.761 sales in 3 months. This means Mercedes places an astounding 5 models inside the Top 11 alongside the E-Class (#7), A-Class (#9) and S-Class (#10). Notice also the BMW 4 Series up two ranks on last quarter to #18 with 1.162 units.

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One year ago: Japan Imports Q3 2013: Mercedes A, CLA-Class and Volvo V40 shine

Full Q3 2014 Top 20 models Ranking Table below.