Japan October 2019: Toyota Corolla signs first win this decade, Mazda CX-30 lands at #21 in market freefalling -24.9%

The Toyota Corolla is the #1 car in Japan for the first time this decade.

After soaring 12.9% last month, the Japanese new vehicle market hits the brakes at -24.9% in October to just 314.784 units, 104.209 less than in October 2018, this due to the typhoons that battered the country over the course of the month and closed many dealerships. Both regular cars (-26.4% to 192.504) and kei cars (-22.3% to 122.280) are hit. This means the year-to-date volume is now only edging up 0.5% year-on-year to 4.464.469, with regular cars almost immobile at +0.1% to 2.819.075 and kei cars up 1.2% to 1.645.394. Brand leader Toyota (-21.8%) resists slightly better than the market, reaching 31.9% share as a result vs. 29.5% YTD. In 2nd place, Suzuki (-8.8%) manage the only single-digit drop in the Top 8, shooting up two spots on September and distancing Daihatsu (-26.4%), Honda (-39.5%) and Nissan (-29.9%) all falling faster than the market. Mazda (-14.4%) and Mercedes (-20.1%) also resist ok but Lexus (+18.7%) is the outright best performer in the Top 10, posting the only year-on-year gain there and even the largest surge in the Top 25. Beyond the Top 10, DS (+37.9%), Lotus (+30.8%), Peugeot (+13.3%), Land Rover (+13.1%), Citroen (+7.3%), Audi (+4.1%) and Ford (+2.9%) sign the only additional gains in market.

The Mazda CX-30 lands just outside the Top 20 for its first month of sales.

We have a surprise atop the regular cars ranking: the Toyota Corolla (+29.5%), annual leader in Japan from 1969 to 2007, manages to snap the #1 spot for the first time this decade, and by a wide margin: almost 2.000 units separate it from the #2 the Toyota Sienta (-5.5%). This performance coincides with the launch in Japan of the sedan and station wagon new generation. In fact Toyota places no less than 9 nameplates in the Top 10 this month, with the Roomy (+8.1%), Prius (-21.5%) and Tank (-3.8%) completing the Top 5 and the Alphard (-11.8%), Aqua (-52.3%), Voxy (-43.9%) and Vitz (-26.2%) finding their way into the Top 10. The Nissan Note (-46%) is the odd one out at #6.

Among new launches, the Toyota RAV4 is up one spot on last month to #13, we welcome the Mazda CX-30 directly at #21 while the Mazda2 is down 6 spots to #25 and the Mazda3 down 16 to #27. In the kei cars ranking, the Honda N-BOX (-23.1%) holds onto the top spot just as the Suzuki Spacia (+5.2%) overtakes the Daihatsu Tanto (-4.2%) to snap the 2nd place, the Top 2 kei cars being the only ones outselling the Corolla. The Nissan Dayz (-17.6%) and Daihatsu Move (-35.5%) round up the Top 5 but the Suzuki Alto (+21.3%) is the best performer in the Top 15 at #6, with the Subaru Chiffon (+32.5%), Daihatsu Copen (+26.7%) and Suzuki Jimny (+17.3%) also strong further down. The Toyota Copen GR Sport (yes Toyota) lands at #29.

Previous month: Japan September 2019: Lexus (+117.7%), Daihatsu (+31.2%), Toyota (+23.4%) lift market to largest gain in over 2 years (+12.9%)

One year ago: Japan October 2018: Toyota Sienta climbs to #2 in market up 12.5%

Full October 2019 Top 55 All-brands, Top 50 regular cars and Top 34 All kei cars below.