In full-year 2022, the Toyota Yaris and Corolla were the top-selling car models in Japan – seven of the top-ten cars were Toyotas.
2022 (January to December): Despite weaker sales, the Toyota Yaris comfortably remained the best-selling car model in Japan. The evergreen Toyota Corolla improved to second place while the Nissan Note was third. Although Toyota had a dismal year in Japan, seven of the top-ten best-selling car models in Japan in 2022 were produced by Toyota. Toyota remained the top-selling car brand in Japan in 2022 and the Honda N-Box the favorite minicar.
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 2022 (Full Year)
The 20 best-selling car models (excluding minicars) in Japan in the full calendar year 2022 were as follows according to Jada:
| Brand | Model | Sales 2022 | Sales 2021 | % 22/21 | ブランド通称名 | ブランド名 | |
| 1 | Toyota | Yaris | 168,557 | 212,927 | -20.8 | ヤリス | トヨタ |
| 2 | Toyota | Corolla | 131,548 | 110,865 | 18.7 | カローラ | トヨタ |
| 3 | Nissan | Note | 110,113 | 90,177 | 22.1 | ノート | 日産 |
| 4 | Toyota | Roomy | 109,236 | 134,801 | -19 | ルーミー | トヨタ |
| 5 | Toyota | Raize | 83,620 | 81,880 | 2.1 | ライズ | トヨタ |
| 6 | Honda | Freed | 79,525 | 69,577 | 14.3 | フリード | ホンダ |
| 7 | Toyota | Aqua | 72,084 | 72,495 | -0.6 | アクア | トヨタ |
| 8 | Toyota | Sienta | 68,922 | 57,802 | 19.2 | シエンタ | トヨタ |
| 9 | Honda | Fit | 60,271 | 58,780 | 2.5 | フィット | ホンダ |
| 10 | Toyota | Alphard | 60,225 | 95,049 | -36.6 | アルファード | トヨタ |
| 11 | Toyota | Noah | 57,696 | 44,211 | 30.5 | ノア | トヨタ |
| 12 | Nissan | Serena | 57,513 | 58,954 | -2.4 | セレナ | 日産 |
| 13 | Toyota | Voxy | 55,545 | 70,085 | -20.7 | ヴォクシー | トヨタ |
| 14 | Honda | Vezel | 50,736 | 52,669 | -3.7 | ヴェゼル | ホンダ |
| 15 | Suzuki | Sorio | 41,590 | 44,713 | -7 | ソリオ | スズキ |
| 16 | Honda | Step Wagon | 37,966 | 39,247 | -3.3 | ステップワゴン | ホンダ |
| 17 | Toyota | Land Cruiser | 35,390 | – | 5.7 | ランドクルーザーW | トヨタ |
| 18 | Toyota | Harrier | 34,182 | 74,575 | -54.2 | ハリアー | トヨタ |
| 19 | Toyota | Passo | 32,990 | – | 1.4 | パッソ | トヨタ |
| 20 | Toyota | Prius | 32,675 | 49,179 | -33.6 | プリウス | トヨタ |
| Source: JADA |
Japan’s Ten Favorite Car Models in 2022 (Full Year)
The list of Japan’s top-ten favorite cars frequently changes as Japanese car buyers are keen to buy the latest models with cars often falling out of favor if an update is due. In 2022, only one top-ten car was in the same ranking position as in 2021, when only two top-ten cars were in the position as in 2020. (In 2020, not a single top-ten car was in the same position as in 2019!)
In 2022, the Toyota Yaris was again the favorite car of the Japanese despite sales contracting by a fifth. The Yaris, previously sold as the Vitz in Japan, was the best-selling car model in Japan in 2022, 2021, and 2020. It was the only top-ten car model in Japan in the same ranking position in 2022 as in 2021.
The evergreen Toyota Corolla moved into second place after two years as the number three. The often conservative design of the Corolla usually sells well in Japan, especially with businesses. However, despite a 19% growth in sales, the Corolla was still a distant second to the Yaris.
Sales of the Nissan Note increased by 22% to move into third from fifth. The Note was the most-popular non-Toyota car in Japan in 2022. It was the top-selling car overall in 2018.
The Toyota Roomy slipped from second to fourth with sales down by a fifth while a small increase in sales lifted the Toyota Raize one position. The Honda Freed had stronger sales in Japan in 2022 to improve from tenth while the Toyota Aqua slipped one rank place with flat sales.
Toyota Sienta sales were up by nearly a fifth and moved up from 13th to eighth most popular car model in Japan in 2022. The Honda Fit re-entered the top-ten list from 12th. Sales of the Toyota Alphard were down by more than a third and slipped from fourth to tenth.
Sales of the Toyota Prius, for many years the best-selling car in Japan, were down by another third, and it slipped from 16th to 20th in the popularity ranking. A new model was launched at the end of 2022 and may reverse the fortunes of the Prius in 2023.
The Honda N-Box was again the most popular minicar in Japan in 2022 and with 202,197 sales comfortably outsold the Toyota Yaris.
Latest Japan Car Sales Statistics: 2023 — Brands, Models, Minicars; Data for 2022 – 2009.
