Japan January 2026: Suzuki Jimny, Nissan Leaf among best performers in negative market

Nissan Leaf sales are up 206.5% thanks to the new generation.

New vehicle sales in Japan drop -2.3% year-on-year in January to 367,748 units. Toyota (-3.5%) drops slightly faster than the market but still manages a strong 31.5% share vs. 29.7% in December. Suzuki (-0.7%) and Honda (-1.8%) are stable above a very dynamic Daihatsu (+10.6%). The Top 11 brands are in the exact same order as the Full Year 2025 ranking. Among them, Lexus (+12%) and Isuzu (+1.1%) are the only ones in positive. Mercedes (-12.6%) – still by far the most popular foreign brand, Nissan (-11.1%) and Mazda (-10.6%) suffer, while Mitsubishi (-3.4%) and Subaru (-5.3%) resist better. Just below, Volkswagen (-41.4%) implodes. BYD (+239.6%) and Porsche (+23.7%) shine but only account for 0.05% and 0.3% share respectively.

Looking at the regular cars charts, the Toyota Yaris/Cross (-31.2%) sinks to just under 11,200 sales, meaning the Toyota Sienta (+5.7%) is the true best-seller once again when Yaris and Yaris Cross sales are separated. The Toyota Raize (+36%) excels at #3, distancing the Toyota Corolla/Cross (-34.4%) and Alphard (-20.3%) both in trouble. Toyota monopolises the Top 7 with the Roomy (+22.9%) and Voxy (+14.5%) in tow and both in excellent shape. The Honda Freed (-7.4%) is the best of the rest at #8. Outstanding performance of the Suzuki Jimny Wagon (+189.9%) inside the Top 10 for the very first time. The Toyota bZ4X is up 6504% to #28 and the Nissan Leaf up 206.5% to #37.

As for kei cars, the Honda N-BOX (+0.9%) is stable and dominates again ahead of the Suzuki Spacia (-5.6%). The Daihatsu Move (+27.7%) overtakes the Daihatsu Tanto (-14.3%) for third place with the Nissan Roox (+41.1%) rounding out the Top 5 like last month and boosted by a new generation. Excellent performance also by the Mitsubishi Delica Mini/eK (+31.5%).

Previous post: Japan Full Year 2025: Honda N-BOX and Toyota Sienta top market up 3.3%

One year ago: Japan January 2025: Sales up 12.4% on low year-ago volumes

Full January 2026 Top 46 All brands, Top 50 regular cars and Top 31 All kei cars below.