2018 (Q3) Japan: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers, Models and Mini Cars

January to September 2018: Toyota was Japan’s largest carmaker, the Nissan Note the best-selling model and the Honda N-Box the favorite mini car of the Japanese.

During the first three quarters of 2018, Toyota, Honda and Suzuki were again the top-selling carmakers in Japan with weak Toyota sales putting a damper on the overall market. The Nissan Note was the favorite car model of the Japanese followed by the Toyota Aqua and Toyota Prius. The top-selling mini car (kei) was again the Honda N-Box with the Suzuki Spacia moving into second place.

Japanese Vehicle Market in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

New vehicle registrations in Japan contracted by 0.9% during the first nine months of 2018 to 4,023,608 motorized vehicles including passenger cars, buses and cargo vehicles. It is the second consecutive year that the Japanese new vehicle market exceeded 4 million vehicles during the first three quarters of the year.

Car sales in Japan were weaker for most months during 2018 but market conditions improved during the year and may turn positive towards the end of the year.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in Japan in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

The top-selling vehicle manufacturers in Japan during the first nine months of 2018 according to JADA were:

Top-Selling Carmakers in Japan in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

The top-ten vehicle manufacturers in Japan maintained their relative rank positions from a year ago with most brands experiencing growth. The notable exception was Toyota, which due to its size dragged the whole market down.

However, Toyota easily remained the largest vehicle manufacturer in Japan during the first nine months of 2018 despite being the worst performing top brand. Sales of Toyota vehicles contracted by 6.6% – well below the market average of -0.9%.

Honda and Suzuki both increased sales in Japan with Suzuki again narrowing the gap to Honda. Honda had only two models in the top ten and clearly needs a new hit to maintain its position.

Nissan sales were slightly weaker despite the Nissan Note being Japan’s favorite car model. Daihatsu came within 4,000 cars of Nissan while Mazda also had a strong performance.

Subaru and Mitsubishi were the most improved top brands in Japan thus far in 2018 while Isuzu was the worst performing brand in the top 20 with sales down by 8.7%. Truck maker Hino rounded out the top-10 list.

Mercedes-Benz remained the top-selling foreign car brand in Japan despite weaker sales. Lexus was the most improved of the top 20 carmakers in Japan with sales up 39% to close the gap to Mercedes and to move up from 15th a year ago to 12th.

Volkswagen maintained 13th place with slightly stronger sales while BMW slipped from 12th with weaker sales. Mitsubishi Fuso also slipped one position.

The other top 20 brands were all imported cars. Audi sales were flat while Minis and Volvos sold in higher numbers.

Jeep moved up one rank position with sales up 14% while Peugeot sales increased by more than a quarter to reenter the top 20 list at the expense of UD Trucks that slipped to 21st with sales down by 9%.

Best-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2018 (Q2 & Q3)

The top-selling car models in Japan during the six months April to September 2018 according to JADA were:

Note: These statistics exclude mini cars (kei)

Top Ten Best-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2018 (Q2 & Q3)

Only one of the top ten favorite car models of the Japanese remained at the same rank position during the second and third quarters of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 but eight of the same models were again in the top-ten list.

The Nissan Note was the favorite car of the Japanese during the period April to September 2018 (and year to date) despite weaker sales. The Note was second last year.

The Toyota Aqua moved up from third to second despite flat sales largely due to the very weak performance of the Toyota Prius. Prius sales were down by almost a third and the model thus slipped from first to third.

Sales of the Nissan Serena were up by more than a quarter to move the model from 10th to fourth. The Toyota Vitz improved two positions while the evergreen Toyota Corolla entered the top-ten list (again) from 13th a year ago with the strongest sales improvement of any top model. Sales of the Toyota Rumi were similarly strong and the model entered the top-ten list from 11th a year ago.

Honda Fit sales continued to weaken and the top-selling Honda in Japan slipped from sixth to eighth while the Honda Freed slipped from fifth to tenth with sales down by nearly a quarter.

Sales of the Toyota Voxy were flat but sufficient to maintained ninth place similar to a year ago. In contrast, the sales of the Toyota C-HR were down 40% to slip from fourth to 13th while the Toyota Sienta slipped from eighth to 11th with sales down by 10%.

Best-Selling Mini Cars in Japan in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

The top-selling mini cars models (Kei) in Japan during the period January to September 2018 according to Zenkeijikyo were:

Mini cars (kei) remained by far the most popular cars in Japan with the top mini car models by far outselling standard cars. The top-ten list of best-selling kei cars remained remarkably stable this year with no new models entering the top-ten list.

The Honda N-Box remained the best-selling car model in Japan with sales still increasing. However, the Suzuki Spacia was the rising star with sales up 40% and the small Suzuki improving from sixth to second – that was the only rank change on the list compared to a year ago. The Daihatsu Mira was the only other top-ten kei car with higher sales thus far in 2018.