Honda Fit Hybrid The effect on car sales of the quake and tsunami that devastated the country is now tangible: the Japanese car market dropped 37% in March at 279,389 units. This is the highest year-on-year fall for Nippon car sales since the -55% of May 1974 during the oil-supply…
Daihatsu Move Custom * Visit this site and pick “Japan: earthquake and tsunami” to help the victims of the disaster * In February the Daihatsu Move is the best selling Kei car in Japan for the 2nd month in a row with 16,230 sales, keeping at bay the Suzuki Wagon R, the…
Nissan Leaf *Best Selling Cars offers its condoleances to the victims of the Sendai earthquake & tsunami* It's a good month for 'green' cars in Japan: the Toyota Prius climbs back to the top of the ranking with 19,110 sales, and the all-electric Nissan Leaf makes its entry in the…
Suzuki MR Wagon A bit of shake up in the Kei cars ranking this month: the Daihatsu Move, #3 in 2010, climbs to first place in January with 14,207 sales, well ahead of the two stars of last year, the Suzuki Wagon R at 11,119 units and the Daihatsu Tanto…
Honda Fit Hybrid The Japanese market is down 21% in January at 187,154 registrations. For the first time in 20 months the Toyota Prius is not #1 in Japan, dethroned by the Honda Fit (aka Jazz), #1 with 14,873 sales possibly thanks to the new Hybrid version. The new gen…
Imported cars are traditionally very discreet in Japan, only accounting for 5.8% of all passenger car sales at 187,436 units. Volkswagen is the only imported brand to feature in the general Top 10 (9th with 46,707 sales), and it places 2 models on top of the imports ranking: the Golf…
The Suzuki Wagon R finishes the year as the best selling Kei car in Japan for the 8th consecutive time with 195,108 registrations (-3%), thanks to a very strong month of December at 14,928 sales. The Daihatsu Tanto, leader of the market up to November, ends up #2 at 191,391…
Toyota Prius * See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * Japanese car sales increased 11% in 2010 at 3,229,716 registrations, in spite of a very weak 2nd half. The Toyota Prius is the best selling car in Japan for the second year in a row,…
Daihatsu Tanto Custom In November, the Daihatsu Tanto regains the lead of the Japanese Kei cars ranking with 13,217 sales, ahead of the Suzuki Wagon R at 12,881 sales. Year-to-date, the Tanto is #1 too with 180,716 sales vs. 180,177 for the Wagon R. 2010 could very well be the…
Another very weak month in Japan with 203,246 registrations, down 31% year-on-year. The Toyota Prius still leads the way by far, but its margin over #2 Honda Fit drops from 7,735 in October to 4,723 this month. The Nissan Juke delivers a best-ever 12th position with 3,789 registrations, whereas the…
Suzuki Wagon R Stingray Kei comes from keijidōsha, light automobile, and corresponds to vehicles under 3.4m length (For more on Kei cars see here). Traditionally, the best-selling Kei cars in Japan outsell the passenger cars, but with the arrival of the new Prius this is not valid anymore. The Suzuki Wagon R,…
Catastrophic month for car sales in Japan: it is the weakest October since 1968 with 193,258 registrations (excluding Kei cars), -27% on 2009, mostly because the government subsidy for fuel- efficient cars ended on Sept. 8. The Toyota Prius is still safely on top with 21,769 sales, ahead of the…
Suzuki Wagon R The Suzuki Wagon R has been the best selling Kei car in Japan since 2003 and managed to stay above 200,000 sales over the period: 221,066 in 2006, 226,725 in 2007, 205,354 in 2008 and 201,528 in 2009. The Daihatsu Move is #2 the whole time, constantly over 180,000…
Toyota Prius * See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * 2009 will be remembered as key in the history of Japan and world automobile. It is the year the Toyota Prius replaced the Corolla as Toyota's core sales and profits enabler in Japan. It is…
Honda Fit * See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * After starting with a bang in November 07, the Honda Fit generation 2 continues to dominate the Japanese sales ranking, on top 10 months out of 12, peaking at 25,933 sales in March and finishing…