2013 (Full Year) Japan: Best-Selling Car Models

In 2013, the Toyota Aqua replaced the Prius as the top-selling car model in Japan. The Honda Fit was again the third most popular car.

In 2013, the Toyota Aqua replaced the Prius as the top-selling car model in Japan. The Honda Fit was again the third most popular car.
TTTNIS / Wikimedia Commons

Japan’s favorite car in 2013 was the Toyota Aqua. The Toyota Prius, the market leader since 2009, was the second most popular car in Japan in 2013. The Honda Fit was the third best-selling car model in Japan followed by the Nissan Note and the evergreen Toyota Corolla.

The Japanese car market in 2013 was flat with 5,375.513 (+0.1%) new vehicle registrations.

Best-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2013 (Full Year)

The 30 most popular car models in Japan in 2013 according to car sales statistics released by JADA were:

Rank 2012 Rank 2013 Manufacturer Model  Sales % Change
2 1 Toyota Aqua  262’367 -1.6
1 2 Toyota Prius  253’711 -20.1
3 3 Honda Fit  181’414 -13.3
7 4 Nissan Note  147’634 73
8 5 Toyota Corolla  101’664 26.4
6 6 Nissan Serena  96’407 0.4
5 7 Toyota Vitz  85’903 -18.7
26 8 Toyota Crown  82’701 176
4 9 Honda Freed  76’818 -35.7
9 10 Honda Step WGN  62’206 -2.4
13 11 Subaru Impreza  58’243 12
10 12 Toyota VELLFIRE  50’575 -13.6
  13 Toyota Supeido  48’584 83.1
11 14 Mazda Demio  43’573 -24.6
12 15 Toyota Passo  42’805 -18.1
14 16 Toyota Voxy  41’918 -17.1
15 17 Suzuki Swift  40’926 -5.1
24 18 Mazda CX-5  38’520 8.7
  19 Subaru Forrester  35’166 182
20 20 Toyota Estima  34’882 -11.3
17 21 Toyota Alphard  33’764 -18.6
22 22 Toyota Noah  32’306 -12.1
  23 Toyota Porte  31’649 22.9
21 24 Suzuki Solio  30’296 -22.1
28 25 Nissan X-TRAIL  28’198 -0.4
19 26 Nissan March  27’711 -30.2
23 27 Toyota Wish  26’021 -28.7
16 28 Toyota Lactis  25’688 -40.3
  29 Mazda Atenza  22’388 328.7
27 30 Toyota SIENTA  22’371 -25.2
    Source:JADA      

Top-30 Best-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2013 (Full Year)

Japanese buyers are famously fickle with new and updated vehicles demanded frequently for a car to remain popular. Large swings in demand are thus common as a model ages or when a new version enters the market. Although there were very few new car models on the top 30 list in 2013, sales and rank positions vary widely from a year ago.

At the top, the big change was that the smaller Toyota Aqua has narrowly outsold its larger, and similarly hybrid, sibling the Toyota Prius. The Prius has been Japan’s favorite car since 2009. However, both cars had weaker sales in 2013 with Prius sales down by a fifth.

The Honda Fit (Jazz in some overseas markets) was again the third most popular car model in Japan in 2013. However, the new Fit model was launched in September and during the final quarter of 2013 comfortably outsold both the similarly sized Toyota Aqua and the larger Prius. The Prius outsold the Aqua as well in Q4/2013. The Honda Fit last was the most popular car in Japan in 2008.

The new Nissan Note was popular with the Japanese car buyers in 2013 with strong sales increases seeing the car moving up two places from a year ago. The evergreen, if conservative, Toyota Corolla similarly improved two places while the Nissan Serena maintained its sixth position from a year ago.

The small Toyota Vitz (Yaris in most overseas markets) slipped two places but the large Toyota Crown increased sales by 176% and shot up from 26 th place a year ago. The Crown is a large sedan popular with taxis as well as for company cars with drivers.

The Honda Freed was the worst performer of the top models with sales down by more than a third and moving down from fourth a year ago to the ninth most popular car in Japan in 2013. The minibus Honda Stepwagon slipped one place to round out the top ten list.

Toyota was again the top manufacturer in Japan in 2013.

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.