Japan June 2015: Facelifted Toyota Corolla confirms #2 spot

The Toyota Corolla is the 2nd best-selling passenger car in Japan for the 2nd straight month.

* See the Top 60 brands, Top 30 regular cars, Top 30 kei cars and Top 20 imports by clicking on the title *

This update was created in collaboration with Stephen Bloom.

Sales of new vehicles in Japan are down 2% year-on-year in June to 442.631 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 2.676.634 units, down 11% on 2014. The industry is still feeling the impact of new tax rates that hit kei cars on April 1 with their sales down 13% to 163.256 units while regular cars are up 5% to 279.375 led by foreign brands at 29.031, up a whopping 19%. Toyota (+4%) and Honda (-7%) dominate, Mazda (+47%), Mercedes (+52%), BMW (+25%) and Lexus (+47%) buck the trend with splendid year-on-year gains this month, while Mitsubishi (-24%), Suzuki (-21%), and Daihatsu (-7%) continue to be pulled down by ther kei divisions. Further down, Mini (+47%), Porsche (+60%) and Ferrari (+102%) make themselves noticed.

Mazda Demio

In the regular models ranking, Toyota continues to monopolise the podium starting with the Aqua with 18.087 sales and marking its 13th consecutive month at #1. The recently facelifted Toyota Corolla is up 36% and holds onto #2, followed by the Prius (-19%) and Honda Fit (-33%). The new Honda StepWGN climbs to #7 and 7.572 units (+107%), its best performance since September 2013. At #8 the new Mazda Demio is up 4-fold on June 2014 as its crossover cousin CX-3 slips down 6 spots on May to #23. The new Toyota Vellfire (+149%) and Alphard (+174%) both continue to perform well, coming in at #11 and #17 respectively, while the third sibling, the new Toyota Esquire, shines at #12. The new Honda Shuttle climbs up 4 ranks to #15 in its first full month in market with 5.322 units.

Toyota Land Cruiser 70

Finally, the Toyota Land Cruiser makes a return appearance in the ranking this month at #29 with 1.844 units as the 30th anniversary edition 70 series enters its final few months of availability. Over on the kei car chart, the Honda N-BOX is again in the lead up 20% with 16.871 units. Last year’s champ, the Daihatsu Tanto is up one place to #2, and the Daihatsu Move climbs four to take the #3 spot this month, leaving the Nissan Dayz in #4. The new Honda S660 adds another 1.095 units to its total while its rival the Daihatsu Copen adds a third variant this month, the retro-styled Cero.

Mercedes CLA

As another quarter closes we have the foreign model ranking with the VW Golf again in #1 despite sales down 2% to 5.754 units, the Mini is up 37% to retake the #2 from the new Mercedes C-Class, itself up 137%. Mercedes continues to best Volkswagen for market share in 2015 lifted by strong sales of the CLA (+181%) and GLA (+116%). Other foreign models doing well in Japan over the period include the BMW 1 Series (+72%), Audi A3 (+21%), Fiat 500 and Volvo V40 (+18%).

Previous month: Japan May 2015: Honda Shuttle and Mazda Roadster land

One year ago: Japan June 2014: Toyota Aqua back to #1, Honda Vezel up to #4

One year ago (kei): Japan kei cars June 2014: Daihatsu Tanto leads, Copen returns

One year ago (imports): Japan Imports Q2 2014: Sedan pushes Audi A3 up to 5th place

Full June 2015 Top 60 brands, Top 30 regular cars, Top 15 kei cars and Q2 2015 Top 20 imports below.