Japan September 2026: Mitsubishi (+20.5%), Nissan (+17.6%) shine, Land Cruiser, Jimny break records, BYD Racco up

Mitsubishi Delica Mini sales are up 49.5% in September.

433,683 new vehicles found a buyer in Japan in September, a modest +1.3% year-on-year uptick leading to a year-to-date volume up 2.3% to 3,545,421. Toyota (+1.9%) holds 28.3% of its home market vs. 31.8% so far this year, with the Top 8 brands unchanged on last month. Mitsubishi (+20.5%), Nissan (+17.6%) and Mazda (+10.5%) impress while Daihatsu (+0.5%) and Suzuki (-0.6%) are stable but Subaru (-10.8%) and Honda (-11.9%) both struggle. Lexus (+0.4%) overtakes Isuzu (-7.8%) to #9 with a solid Mercedes (+8.8%) remaining the most popular foreigner at #11 ahead of Volkswagen (+9%) at #13, BMW (-22.9%) at #14 and Audi (-2%) at #16. Citroen (+68.4%), Lamborghini (+40%), Hino (+35.4%) and Land Rover (+15.9%) impress below while BYD is up to #21, still with a minuscule 0.2% share.

The Toyota Land Cruiser ranks #5 in the regular car ranking in September.

In the regular car ranking, the Toyota Yaris/Cross (+4.1%) stays at #1 while the Toyota Corolla/Cross (-1.8%) is up one spot on August to #2, a ranking it now also holds YTD. The real leader is the Toyota Sienta (+40.2%) at #3 overall, followed by the Honda Freed (+0.9%). The Toyota Land Cruiser (+67%) shoots up to a record #5, the nameplate’s first Top 5 finish. The Suzuki Jimny (+42.5%) also breaks its ranking record at #9, its second Top 10 finish after last January (#10). Excellent performances also by the Toyota RAV4 (+135.5%), Mazda CX-5 (+86.2%), Nissan Kicks (+301.1%), Toyota bZ4X (+8184.6%), Nissan Leaf (+806.8%) and Elgrand (+827.8%).

The BYD Racco is up to #23 in the kei car ranking.

As for kei cars, the Honda N-BOX (-12%) leads the way as usual and is the most popular model outright by far. The Suzuki Spacia (-1.9%) follows ahead of the Daihatsu Tanto (+6.1%) and Move (-10.3%). Outstanding result for the Nissan Roox (+114.2%) and Mitsubishi Delica Mini/eK (+49.5%). But the event of the month is the BYD Racco up to #23 with 442 sales vs. 81 last month. Even though sales are still tiny, it’s a promising score for the Chinese kei car.

Previous month: Japan August 2026: Mazda (+15.2%), Toyota (+10.6%), Nissan (+9.7%) shine

One year ago: Japan September 2025: Subaru (+22%), Suzuki (+7.3%) defy negative market (-2.4%)

Full September 2026 Top 49 All brands, Top 50 regular cars and Top 32 All kei cars below.