2020 (Full Year) Japan: Best-Selling Car Models

In 2020, the Toyota Yaris and Raize were the top-selling car models in Japan for the first time ever. The Prius slipped out of the top ten.

In full-year 2020, the Toyota Yaris was the top-selling car model in Japan for the first time ever while the new Toyota Raize was the second most popular car. The evergreen Corolla rounded out the top three places for Toyota. The Honda Fit recovered to fourth place as the most popular car in Japan not produced by Toyota. The Toyota Prius dropped out of the top-ten list of best-selling car models in Japan in 2020.

Latest Japan Car Sales Statistics: 2023 — Brands, Models, Minicars; Data for 2022 – 2009.

List of the Top 20 Best-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2020 (Full Year)

The 20 best-selling car models in Japan in full calendar year 2020 were as follows according to Jada:

	Brand	Model	Sales 2020	Sales 2019	% 19/20	Sales 2018	Sales 2017
1	Toyota	Yaris	151,766	[81,554]	New	[87,299]	[90,248]
2	Toyota	Raize	126,038	New	New	–	–
3	Toyota	Corolla	118,276	104,406	13.3	89,910	77,466
4	Honda	Fit	98,210	74,410	32	90,720	97,939
5	Toyota	Alphard	90,748	68,705	32.1	58,806	41,923
6	Toyota	Roomy	87,242	91,650	-4.8	86,265	78,690
7	Honda	Freed	76,283	85,596	-10.9	84,121	104,405
8	Toyota	Sienta	72,689	110,880	-34.4	94,048	96,847
9	Nissan	Note	72,205	118,472	-39.1	136,324	138,905
10	Toyota	Voxy	69,517	88,012	-21	90,759	86,772
11	Nissan	Serena	68,648	92,956	-26.2	99,865	84,433
12	Toyota	Prius	67,297	125,587	-46.7	115,462	160,912
13	Toyota	Harrier	66,067	NA	82.3	44,952	58,732
14	Toyota	Aqua	59,548	103,803	-42.6	126,561	131,615
15	Toyota	RAV4	54,848	53,965	1.6	NA	NA
16	Toyota	Noah	45,434	52,684	-13.8	56,719	58,729
17	Suzuki	Sorio	40,342	44,488	-8.3	44,884	49,742
18	Subaru	Impreza	36,658	43,780	-16.3	54,194	73,171
19	Toyota	Tank	35,591	74,518	-52.2	73,799	70,839
20	Honda	Step Wagon	34,441	52,676	-34.6	56,872	46,457
	Source: JADA

Note: [Yaris Sales data before 2020 for the Vitz]

Japan’s Ten Favorite Car Models in 2020 (Full Year)

The list of Japan’s top-ten favorite cars frequently change as the Japanese car buyers are keen to buy the latest models with cars often falling out of favor if an update is due. However, even by Japanese standards the changes in the composition and rank order of the top ten best-selling cars in Japan in 2020 were extreme.

In 2020, not a single top-ten car was in the same rank position as in 2019. The top seven cars were all new or improved rank position. The top five car models were either new or increased sales volume while the bottom five sold in lower numbers.

Top Three Car Models in Japan in 2020 (Full Year)

It was a clean sweep for Toyota of the top three most-popular car models in Japan in 2020:

The Toyota Yaris became the favorite car of the Japanese for the first time. The Yaris previously sold as the Vitz in Japan but with the new model, Toyota changed the nameplate in Japan to the Yaris used in most international markets. Although the Vitz was a regular in the top-ten list in Japan, it rarely made it to near the top.

Even without the 10,491 Vitz models sold in early 2020 (enough to place the outgoing car as the 46th best-selling car model in Japan in 2020, it was tenth in 2019), the Yaris was the clear best-seller. However, the top-selling vehicle in Japan in 2020 was the Honda N-Box mini car that sold 195,984 vehicles.

The second-best-selling car model in Japan in 2020 was the Toyota Raize. It increased sales by more than 500% as it was introduced in the final weeks of 2019.

The third-best-selling car model in Japan in 2020 was the evergreen Toyota Corolla. The often conservative design of the Corolla usually sell well in Japan, especially with businesses, but it was the first time in years that the Corolla reached the top three. It was fourth last year but out of the top-ten list in 2017.

Japan’s Favorite Car Models in 2020

The new Honda Fit was well received and the Fit re-entered the top-ten list from 12th a year ago. The Toyota Alphard similarly moved up from 13th to fifth. Both cars increased sales volumes by almost a third. Despite weaker sales, the Toyota Roomy moved up one position and the Honda Freed two places.

Sales were sharply lower for the other top-selling car models in Japan in 2020. The Toyota Sienta slipped from third to eighth. The Nissan Note slipped from second to ninth with sales down almost 40%. The Toyota Voxy slipped two places with sales down by a fifth.

The top-selling car model in Japan in 2019, the Toyota Prius, slipped from first to only 12th in 2020. The Toyota Aqua dropped from 5th to 14th. Sales of both models nearly halved.

Latest Japan Car Sales Statistics: 2023 — Brands, Models, Minicars; Data for 2022 – 2009.