Japan November 2019: Toyota Raize lands at #4 in 2nd straight double-digit market drop (-12.7%)

Instant blockbuster: the Toyota Raize lands directly at #4 in Japan…

New light vehicle sales in Japan once again endure the consequences of the typhoons that battered the country in October and disrupted economic activity, with November registrations down by a ghastly -12.7% year-on-year to 385.859, which is enough to tilt the year-to-date volume into negative at -0.7% to 4.850.342. In the detail, kei cars (-9.4%) at 147.015 units behave better than regular cars (-14.6%) at 238.844, a similar situation is to be observed YTD with kei cars still edging up 0.3% to 1.792.423 while regular cars skid -1.3% to 3.057.919. Japanese customers have focused on the most popular local brands this month, with Toyota (-7.9%) up to 31.8% share, Daihatsu (+1.1%) up to 14.3% and Suzuki (-7.2%) all faring much better than the market and accounting for a mammoth 60.4% of the market vs. 55.8% so far in 2019. In contrast, Honda (-30.8%), Mazda (-28.2%), Mitsubishi (-27.1%), Subaru  (-22.8%) and Nissan (-16.7%) all implode. At the tail end of the Top 10, Lexus (+20.6%) and Mercedes (+11%) swim vigorously upstream with market-defying double-digit gains. Further down, Citroen (+59.6%), DS (+22%), Lamborghini (+21.%), Audi (+20%), Peugeot (+13%), Abarth (+10.7%) and Volvo (+8.6%) stand out.

…while its twin the Daihatsu Rocky points its bonnet at #16.

Now that its new generation hybrid sedan variant is a credible alternative to the Toyota Prius, the Toyota Corolla (+25.1%) repeats at #1 in the regular car charts but remains stuck at #5 YTD. Like in October, the Top 5 is 100% Toyota with the Sienta (+2.8%) and Prius (-4.4%) completing the podium and the Roomy (+0.9%) closing out the Top 5. The November fireworks lies in 4th place: with the small Raize (7.484 sales), Toyota continues to complete its crossover lineup at home after the C-HR (#1 in April 2017) and RAV4 (#7 in May 2019). According to BSCB files, this is the most successful new nameplate launch in Japan in almost 8 years, since the Toyota Aqua in January 2012 (13.485 sales). Incredibly, the Nissan Note (-30.4%) and Honda Freed (-2%) are the only non-Toyota nameplates in the Top 14. We have a second new entrant in the Top 20: the Daihatsu Rocky at #16 which is none other than the Raize’s twin. The Mazda CX-30 is down 3 spots on last month to #24.

The Daihatsu Tanto ends 26 months of kei car reign by the Honda N-BOX.

Over in the kei car charts, we have a surprise in pole position: the Daihatsu Tanto (+90%) almost doubles its sales year-on-year thanks to the new model, ending 26 consecutive months of domination by the Honda N-BOX (-3.5%). Both nameplates as well as the Suzuki Spacia (+8.5%) and Nissan Dayz (+6.3%) outsell the Toyota Corolla. Only the Suzuki Hustler (+4.4%) manages a year-on-year uptick in the remainder of the Top 10 whereas the Daihatsu Move (-40.8%), Mira (-40.4%), Mitsubishi eK (-29.9%) and Suzuki Wagon R (-19.4%) implode. Further down, the Honda N-ONE (+11%), Suzuki Every Wagon (+10.9%) and Jimny (+6.3%) stand out.

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

One year ago: Japan November 2018: Mazda (+37.2%), Mazda (+31.4%) help lift market up 8.6%

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