2009 Full Year List of Top 10 Best-Selling Cars in Japan

Most Popular Japanese Passenger Vehicle Brands and Cars

Toyota, Honda, and Nissan were the most popular car manufacturers and brands in Japan in 2009. The Prius and Fit were the best-selling car models in Japan in 2009.

Toyota, Honda, and Nissan were the most popular car manufacturers and brands in Japan in 2009. The Prius and Fit were the best-selling car models in Japan in 2009.

 

Toyota maintained its traditional position as the strongest motor vehicle manufacturer and top-selling car brand in Japan in 2009. The Toyota Prius hybrid car was Japan’s favorite car model in 2009 – it easily outsold last year’s best-selling car, the Honda Fit, which slipped to second-placed. In 2009, five of the top ten best-selling car models in Japan were Toyota cars. Hybrid cars, which thus far had little impact on car sales internationally, took around 10% of the Japanese new car market in 2009.

In 2009, 3,923,740 new passenger vehicles were recorded in Japan, v.s. 4,227,643 in 2008. The total motor vehicle market in Japan, including trucks and busses, was 4,609,255 vehicles in 2009 (5,082,235 in 2008).

The Top 10 Best-Selling Motorcar Manufacturers in Japan in 2009

The list of the top-selling car manufacturers in Japan in 2009 according to car sales statistics published by JAMA is:

  • Car Manufacturer … Cars Sold in Japan in 2009
  1. Toyota … 1,238,137
  2. Honda … 595,558
  3. Nissan … 520,492
  4. Suzuki … 485,396
  5. Daihatsu … 474,694
  6. Mazda … 175,703
  7. Others … 166,672
  8. Subaru … 119,764
  9. Mitsubishi … 119,148
  10. Lexus … 28,167

The 2009 car sales statistics include minicars (Kei) while “others” include all imported vehicles of non-Japanese brands.

The Top 10 Best-Selling Cars in Japan in 2009

The list of the top 10 most popular passenger car models in Japan in 2009 according to car sales statistics released by JAMA is:

  • Car Make & Model … Cars Sold in Japan in 2009
  1. Toyota Prius … 208,876
  2. Honda Fit … 157,324
  3. Toyota Vitz … 117,655
  4. Toyota Passo … 98,883
  5. Honda Insight … 93,283
  6. Toyota Corolla … 90,178
  7. Honda Freed … 79,525
  8. Nissan Serena … 78,836
  9. Toyota Voxy … 71,426
  10. Nissan Note … 65,745

The JAMA statistics exclude minicars (Kei). If minicars were included, the Suzuki Wagon R would have been second on the list and the Daihatsu Move third.

Japan’s Favorite Car Models in Japan in 2009

The Toyota Prius, a hybrid car helped by government subsidies,  almost tripled sales to become Japan’s best-selling car in 2009. Around ten percent of the Japanese new car market in 2009 was taken by hybrid vehicles, which benefited Toyota and to a lesser extend Honda.

The Honda Fit (Jazz), the top-selling car in Japan in 2008, slipped to second place in 2009. The Honda Insight, Honda’s hybrid car, made it to fifth place and the second hybrid vehicle on the top-ten best-selling cars list in Japan.

The Toyota Vitz (Yaris) was the third-most-popular car in Japan in 2009. The Toyota Corolla, long undisputedly Japan’s favorite car model slipped to sixth position. The large Toyota Crown sedan slipped from fourth place in 2008 to only twenty-first in 2009.

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.