Japan Full Year 2020: Toyota holds best among top brands, Yaris and Raize top market down -11.5%

The Toyota Yaris is the best-selling regular car at home in 2020.

Discover over 50 years of Japanese Historical Data here.

New vehicle sales in Japan drop -11.5% year-on-year in 2020 to 4.598.615 units, that’s almost 600.000 annual units lost mainly due to the coronavirus crisis. Brand-wise, Toyota (-6%) almost halves the market fall to secure the best hold in the Top 18 and improves from 29.8% to 31.6% share, while Suzuki (-9.4%) overtakes Honda (-14.3%) to rank #2 overall with 13.7% share. Daihatsu (-10.1%) also outpaces the market at #4, distancing Nissan (-17.5%), Mazda (-13.6%) and Subaru (-19.6%) all falling faster than the market. Further down, Ferrari (+24.7%), Citroen (+22.3%), Ford (+6.6%), Abarth (+2.6%), Jeep (+1.7%), Porsche (+1.3%), Peugeot (+1.2%) and DS (+0.4%) post market-defying gains in the remainder of the Top 35.

The Toyota Raize is up to #2 regular car this year.

In the regular cars ranking, the Toyota Yaris lands directly in pole position with almost 152.000 sales including the Yaris Cross variant. The Yaris nameplate is indeed new in Japan, the previous generations were called Vitz. Launched in November 2019, the Toyota Raize (+659.2%) ends its first full year in market at #2 ahead of the Toyota Corolla (+13.3%). In fact the entire Top 5 is up thanks to new generations: the Honda Fit (+32%) and Toyota Alphard (+32.1%) follow. Leader last year, the Toyota Prius (-46.4%) freefalls to #12 now that the Corolla nameplate offers attractive hybrid variants at home. The Daihatsu Rocky (+299%), Mazda CX-30 (+197.8%), Mazda2 (+153.9%), Toyota Harrier (+82.3%), Suzuki Jimny Wagon (+53.3%) and RAV4 (+1.6%) also make themselves noticed with gains, while the Nissan Kicks (#36) is the only additional 2020 launch in the Top 50.

The Daihatsu Taft lands at #12 in the kei car ranking. 

Over in the kei cars charts, this year only the Honda N-BOX (-22.7%) outsells the best-selling regular cars vs. 4 nameplates last year. The Suzuki Spacia (-15.9%) edges up one spot on 2019 to #2, overtaking the Daihatsu Tanto (-26%) just as the Daihatsu Move (-15.2%) passes the Nissan Dayz (-44.7%). The Suzuki Hustler (+38.5%) and Honda N-WGN (+114.2%) are both up 3 spots on 2019 to #6 and #9 respectively. This year we welcome (back) the Nissan Roox at #8 and the Daihatsu Taft at #12.

The Jeep Wrangler is up to #5 foreigner in Q4 2020.

Looking at foreign cars, below the Mini lineup (-15.2%), the Mercedes A-Class (-4.7%) leaps up two spots to #2, overtaking the VW Golf (-47.4%) in total perdition and outside the Q4 Top 10. The VW T-Cross lands directly at #4, the BMW 3 Series (-16.9%) is up one spot to #5 and the Volvo 60-Series (-5.9%) up two to #6. Notice also the outstanding performances of the Mercedes CLA (+28.4%), Jeep Wrangler (+18.1%) and BMW 1 Series (+21%) all fitting within the Top 12. The Fiat 500 (#18), Mercedes G-Class (#19) and Jeep Renegade (#20) all break into the Top 20. The Q4 2020 ranking also reveals a few surprises: the Mercedes GLB is up to #4, the Jeep Wrangler up to #5 and the Peugeot 208 up to #10.

Previous month: Japan November 2020: Toyota monopolises Top 7 regular cars in market up 6.7%

Previous year: Japan 2019: Toyota Prius reclaims regular car lead but Corolla and Raize end on a high in market down -1.5%

Two years ago: Japan 2018: Note first Nissan to ever top the regular car ranking, Honda N-BOX #1 overall, breaks volume record

Full December 2020 Top 60 All-brands, Top 50 regular cars, Top 33 All-kei cars and Q4 2020 Top 20 foreign cars below.

Full Year 2020 Top 60 All-brands, Top 50 regular cars, Top 35 All-kei cars and Top 20 foreign cars vs. Full Year 2019 figures below.