2013 (Q3) Japan: Best-Selling Car Brands and Models

Toyota leads car sales in Japan from January to September 2013 with the Aqua now Japan’s favorite car model ahead of the Prius.

Toyota Sign

The first nine months of 2013 saw the Japanese new car market decline by 5%. The best-selling marques Toyota and Honda suffered a sales decline of around 10% but car sales of most other brands were flat or stronger with import brands showing strong growth in Japan over the first three quarters of 2013. The Toyota Aqua has now established itself as Japan’s favorite car ahead of the Toyota Prius.

The Japanese New Car Market in 2013 (Q3)

The Japanese car market shrunk by 4.8% between January and September 2013 compared to the same period a year ago. During the first nine months of 2013, new vehicle registrations in Japan totaled 4,073,367 including cars, trucks, and buses.

Mid-2103, the Japanese car market was 8% down on the first six months of 2012 but a very strong (+17%) September 2013 contributed to the smaller than expected decline over the first three quarters of the year.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in Japan in 2013 (Q3)

The best-selling vehicle brands in Japan during the first nine months of 2013 according to sales figures released by JATO were:

January to September
     2013 % Change 2012 2011
  Total  4,073,267 -4.8 4,277,944 3,084,336
1 Toyota  1,174,213 -10.4 1,310,007 813,808
2 Honda  547,808 -9.7 606,366 374,485
3 Suzuki  534,479 -0.3 535,843 412,633
4 Nissan  528,034 -0.3 529,805 444,548
5 Daihatsu  505,476 -7 543,728 395,455
6 Mazda  177,055 -0.7 178,214 147,684
7 Subaru  143,073 3.9 137,646 116,807
8 Mitsubishi  108,250 -2.9 111,450 115,857
9 VW  48,384 15.3 41,971 37,290
10 Isuzu  47,350 2.4 46,223 30,680
11 Mercedes-Benz  39,179 27.9 30,641 24,645
12 Lexus  35,053 1.9 34,400 32,020
13 Hino  34,737 8.4 32,041 24,930
14 BMW  33,059 12 29,524 24,005
15 Mitsubishi Fuso  26,533 -0.1 26,569 18,358
16 Audi  21,361 16.4 18,356 16,214
17 Volvo  12,728 23.4 10,315 8,172
18 BMW MINI  12,393 2.2 12,124 10,576

Source: JATO

Best-Selling Car Brands in Japan in 2013 (Q3)

Market leaders Toyota and Honda maintained their relative sales positions from a year ago despite both loosing around 10% in sales in Japan between January and September 2013. Last year’s number three, Daihatsu, also lost significant sales and slipped to fifth place this year.

Other brands had mostly flat or stronger sales. Import brands gained particularly with Mercedes-Benz (+28%) showing the strongest increase in sales to move ahead of Lexus and Hino. Volvo sales were also much improved.

Top-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2013 (Q3)

Japan’s favorite car models during the first nine months of 2013 according to car sales statistics released by JATO were:

Manufacturer Model Jan-Jun  July   August   September  Jan-Sep
1 Toyota Aqua 132,336  28,657  21,142  26,543 208,678
2 Toyota Prius 132,472  23,067  16,759  23,069 195,367
3 Nissan Note 82,466  11,712  8,783  15,660 118,621
4 Honda Fit 72,191  11,553  6,193  19,388 109,325
5 Nissan Serena 49,241  9,005  6,610  10,865 75,721
6 Toyota Vitz 45,996  9,181  5,324  6,869 67,370
7 Toyota Crown 48,458  6,724  5,119  6,389 66,690
8 Toyota Corolla 40,244  7,331  6,865  10,784 65,224
9 Honda Freed 37,974  2,740  5,782  7,909 54,405
10 Honda Step WGN 32,656  6,715  4,384  8,237 51,992

Source: JATO

The Toyota Aqua is now Japan’s favorite car ahead of the Toyota Prius, which led the tables a year ago. The gap between the two models are about the same as it was when the Aqua led the Prius during the first quarter of 2013 but the Prius was again ahead mid-year.

The Honda Fit slipped one place but the new third-generation model was launched in September and sold strongly with potential for a good finish to the year. The Note improved from 8th a year ago.

The Serena and Vitz swopped places while the Toyota Crown is a new entrant ahead of the evergreen Corolla. The Freed slipped from fourth a year ago while the Stepwagon is down one place. The Mazda Demio slipped out of the top-ten list of Japan’s favorite car models.

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.