Japan Imports Q4 2014: Mercedes C-Class up to 2nd place

January 11, 2015
Matt Gasnier

Mercedes C-Class

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

In a market down 11%, imports are up a robust 2% year-on-year in Japan to 35,238 deliveries for a 17.8% market share. A complete brands rankings will be published in the Full Year 2014 updates, for now I give you the traditional quarterly imported models update for Japan. As always Japanese car buyers are extremely fickle and tire of novelty real fast. Case in point: a little bit over a year after the 7th generation launched here, the VW Golf is already down 17% but remains in pole position with 7,603 sales. Reversely, the new gen Mercedes C-Class properly sparkles: up 180% year-on-year over the last quarter of 2014 to a fantastic 2nd place with 6,407 units sold, kicking Mini (all models) down to #3 despite sales up 19%.

The Mercedes GLA is inside the imported Top 10…

Excellent performance of the VW Polo up 55% to #4 and of the Audi A3 up 63% to #6 thanks to the new sedan. German premium manufacturers tighten their grip over the imported models ranking even further with the Mercedes GLA breaking into the Top 10 for the first time thanks to 1,824 sales, the Mercedes CLA back up to #16, the BMW 4 Series up one spot on Q3 to #17 and the BMW 2 Series landing directly among the Top 20 most successful imported nameplates in the country for its first quarter of sales at #20 and 943 units.

…while the BMW 2 Series is already inside the Top 20.