Japan June 2018: Toyota down 16.3%, Lexus, Mazda up

Lexus sales surge 25.6% year-on-year in June.

* Now updated with the Top 55 All-brands, Top 50 regular cars, Top 33 kei cars and Top 15 foreigners *

The Japanese new car market posts an 8th year-on-year decline in the past 9 months in June, down a severe 5% to 453.765 units and pulling the year-to-date tally down 1.8% to 2.732.478. Brand leader Toyota is hit full frontal with deliveries down a very steep 16.3% yet its market share remains above its YTD level at 28.5% vs. 28% so far this year. Despite the surrounding gloom, there’s no shortage of dynamic brands in the Top 10, led by Mazda (+16.1%), Mitsubishi (+12.4%), Hino (+12.1%) and Suzuki (+9%). In contrast, Subaru (-24.3%) and Daihatsu (-8.2%) struggle as does #1 foreigner Mercedes (-7.1%) despite returning inside the Top 10 for the first time since last December at #10. Further down, Alfa Romeo (+77.4%), Jaguar (+48.3%), Citroen (+28%), Lexus (+25.6%), Volvo (+23.1%), Peugeot (+21.3%) and Jeep (+11%) post some of the largest gains in market.

Toyota sales are down 16.3% despite the arrival of the new Corolla Sport hatchback…

Over in the regular car sales charts, the Toyota Aqua threepeats in pole position for the first time since November 2015 thanks to deliveries edging up 2%, but the Nissan Note (-2%) is only 317 units below and cements its YTD lead. The Toyota Prius (-45%) is in freefall whereas the Nissan Serena (+27%) and Toyota Roomy (+21%) post the largest gains in the Top 10. The Toyota Corolla (+4%) climbs back up 5 spots on May to hit its highest ranking at home since last November at #6 thanks to the arrival of the new generation hatch dubbed Corolla Sport.

…and the new generation Crown.

Further down, notice the Honda StepWGN (+45%), the Toyota Crown up 43% thanks to the new model, the Suzuki Swift (+33%), Toyota Alphard (+28%) and Mazda CX-5 (+20%) impressive in the Top 30 while among smaller volumes the Toyota Camry (+6795%), Mazda Atenza (+275%), Subaru Levorg (+213%), Mazda CX-3 (+126%) and Honda Grace (+87%) impress. The Suzuki Xbee (#29) leads recent launches just above the Mazda CX-8 (#30) and Honda Civic (#35) while the Daihatsu Boon (+32%) makes its very first appearance in the monthly ranking since we expanded our Japan coverage from the Top 30 to the Top 50 in January. Over in the kei car aisle, the Honda N-BOX (+17%) and Suzuki Spacia (+54%) easily outsell the best-selling regular cars but 7 out of the 10 best-sellers are in negative in June. The Mazda Flair Wagon (+115%), Honda N-ONE (+23%) and Mitsubishi eK (+20%) also shine.

First Top 20 ranking in Japan for the BMW X3.

Quarterly sales data is now available for foreign models, and sees the Mini (+3%, no sales split for the Countryman) reclaim the advantage over the VW Golf (+13%) with the Mercedes C-Class (+15%) rounding up the podium and the VW Polo surging 45% to #4 thanks to the new model. The Audi A3 (+12%) rallies back up 9 spots on Q1 to #6, knocking the Volvo V40 (+26%) down to #7, the Volvo S/V60 (+36%) is up 6 ranks to #11 and the Mercedes GLC up 25% to #13. The Jeep Wrangler posts its second ever Quarterly Top 20 ranking after Q3 2016 at #17, as for the BMW X3, it breaks into the Japanese Quarterly Top 20 for the very first time at #20.

Previous month: Japan May 2018: Toyota Aqua repeats at #1, Suzuki, Lexus impress

One year ago: Japan June 2017: Toyota Prius, C-HR, Vitz lead in market up 13.4%

Full June 2018 Top 52 All-brands, Top 50 regular cars and Top 33 kei cars, Full Q2 2018 Top 15 foreigners below.