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Japan Full Year 2021: Toyota Yaris and Roomy top market down -3.3%

The Toyota Roomy is up to 2nd place in the regular cars ranking in 2021.

Discover over 50 years of Japanese Historical Data here.

The Japanese new vehicle market edges down -3.3% year-on-year in 2021 to 4,438,440 registrations. Toyota (-2.1%) resists better than its home market to improve its share to a round 32%. The Top 12 is unchanged on 2020 and the next 6 carmakers all lose more ground than the market: Suzuki (-3.6%) sees its share unchanged at 13.7% ahead of Honda (-6.4%) at 13%, Daihatsu (-3.4%) at 12.9%, Nissan (-3.6%) at 10.2%, Mazda (-11.2%) in trouble at 3.5% and Subaru (-4%) at 2.3%. Mitsubishi (+10.5%) defies the negative market but remains in 8th place above Isuzu (-5.5%) and Hino (-0.1%). Mercedes (-9.3%) remains the most popular foreign brand despite a significant loss, distancing BMW (+0.5%) up two spots to #13 and Volkswagen (-3.7%) staying at #14. Audi (+1%), Mini (-9.8%), Volvo (+6.1%) and Jeep (+5.2%) follow. Below, Alfa Romeo (+39.8%), Renault (+28.5%), Land Rover (+20.8%), Maserati (+20.8%), Citroen (+17.2%), Ferrari (+14%) and Peugeot (+12.3%) all impress with stellar gains.

In the regular cars ranking, the Toyota Yaris (+40.3%) cements its lead as its volume includes Yaris Cross figures. The Toyota Roomy (+54.5%) takes advantage of the discontinuation of its twin the Tank to leap up four spots to #2 overall while the Toyota Corolla (-6.3%) hasn’t yet fully integrated the influx of sales generated by the Corolla Cross and remains in third place. The Toyota Alphard (+4.7%) edges up one rank to #4 with the Nissan Note (+24.9%) rounding out the Top 5. Other impressive gainers in the Top 10 are the Toyota Harrier (+12.9%) and Aqua (+21.7%) benefitting from new generations. Below, notice the Honda Vezel (+59.9%), Nissan Kicks (+91.2%), Toyota Land Cruiser W (+27.3%) and Subaru Levorg (+110%) delivering stellar gains. New entrants in the Top 50 are the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (+65.3%), Nissan March (+52.7%) and Honda Civic (+17.3%).

The VW T-Cross is up to #2 foreigner in 2021.

Over in the kei cars charts, the Honda N-BOX (-3.6%) remains the most popular with just under 190,000 sales, that’s well below the Toyota Yaris across in the regular cars, which wasn’t the case in 2020. The Suzuki Spacia (-7.8%), Daihatsu Tanto (-9.8%) and Daihatsu Move (-8%) follow like last year but all lose more ground than the market. The Nissan Roox (+16.4%) steps up three spots to #5 but had an off month in December when it ranked #25. The Daihatsu Taft (+45%) spends its first Full Year in market inside the Top 10 while the Suzuki Hustler (+3%) stays at #6 and the Suzuki Wagon R (+4.4%) is up three ranks to #7. 

Looking at foreign models, the Mini lineup (-9.8%) is by far the most successful, selling almost double the volume of the #2, the VW T-Cross (+2.6%) up two spots on last year. The BMW 3 Series (+1.9%) and Volvo 60-Series (+12.7%) are also up two ranks year-on-year to land at #3 and #4 respectively. Meanwhile the VW Golf (-25.7%) tumbles down two spots to #5. The VW T-Roc breaks into the Top 20 to land directly in 6th place, while the Jeep Wrangler (+20.4%) is up three ranks to #8 and the Mercedes A-Class sinks 8 spots to #10. Other new entrants in the Top 20 are the Mercedes GLB at #11, the Mercedes S-Class at #13, the Audi Q3 at #18 and the Mercedes GLA at #20. 

Previous month: Japan November 2021: Toyota Corolla takes charge, market narrows fall to -14.4%

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

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

Full December 2021 Top 53 All-brands, Top 50 regular cars, Top 34 kei cars and Q4 2021 Top 20 foreigners below.

Full Year 2021 Top 60 All-brands, Top 50 regular cars, Top 35 kei cars and Top 20 foreign cars vs. Full Year 2020 data below.

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