2023 (Full Year) Japan: Best-Selling Car Models

In full-year 2023, the Toyota Yaris and Corolla were again the top-selling car models in Japan – eight of the top ten cars were Toyotas.

2023 (January to December): Toyota again dominated the Japanese new car market with the Toyota Yaris the best-selling car model in Japan followed by the Toyota Corolla and the Toyota Siena. The top-selling non-Toyota-branded car model in Japan in 2023 was the fourth-placed Nissan Note. The favorite Honda model in Japan was the Freed at tenth. Toyota remained the top-selling car brand in Japan in 2023 and the Honda N-Box was 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 2030 (Full Year)

The 20 best-selling car models (excluding minicars) in Japan in the full calendar year 2023 were as follows according to Jada:

	Brand	Model	Sales 2023	Sales 2022	% 23/22
1	Toyota	Yaris	194,364	168,557	15.3
2	Toyota	Corolla	154,870	131,548	17.7
3	Toyota	Sienta	132,332	68,922	92.0
4	Nissan	Note	102,508	110,113	-6.9
5	Toyota	Roomy	100,800	109,236	-7.7
6	Toyota	Prius	99,149	32,675	203.4
7	Toyota	Noah	95,181	57,696	65.0
8	Toyota	Voxy	89,080	55,545	60.4
9	Toyota	Aqua	80,268	72,084	11.4
10	Honda	Freed	77,562	79,525	-2.5
11	Nissan	Serena	75,673	57,513	31.6
12	Toyota	Harrier	75,211	34,182	120.0
13	Toyota	Raize	64,995	83,620	-22.3
14	Honda	Vezel	59,187	50,736	16.7
15	Honda	Fit	57,033	60,271	-5.4
16	Toyota	Land Cruiser	55,263	35,390	56.2
17	Toyota	Alphard	53,086	60,225	-11.9
18	Suzuki	Sorio	47,983	41,590	15.4
19	Honda	Step Wagon	44,157	37,966	16.3
20	Toyota	Crown	43,029		142.2
	Source: JADA

Japan’s Ten Favorite Car Models in 2023 (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 2023, only the top two of the ten best-selling car models were in the same position as in 2022. Of the top-20 cars, only three cars (Yaris, Corolla, Vezel) were in the same rank position as a year ago but only one (Toyota Crown) was a new entry in the group.

In 2023, the Toyota Yaris was again the favorite car of the Japanese with sales up 15%, which was slightly below the 19.3% growth in Japanese passenger car sales overall in 2023. The Yaris, previously sold as the Vitz in Japan, was the best-selling car model in Japan in 2022, 2021, and 2020. It was also the sales leader every calendar month of 2023.

The evergreen Toyota Corolla was the second most popular car model in Japan in 2023 for the second consecutive year. The often conservative design of the Corolla usually sells well in Japan, especially with businesses. Sales improved slightly better than the Yaris but it remains a distant second.

Toyota Sienta sales nearly doubled to move from eighth to third.

Sales of the Nissan Note were 7% weaker and the most popular non-Toyota car in Japan slipped from third to fourth. The Note was the top-selling car model overall in Japan in 2018.

The Toyota Roomy slipped from fourth to fifth with sales down by 8% — it was second in 2021.

Sales of the Toyota Prius almost tripled to move the Prius from 20th in 2022 to sixth most popular car in Japan in 2023. No other model in the top 20 best-selling cars in Japan increased sales faster.

The Toyota Noah and Toyota Voxy increased sales by almost two-thirds to move into the top-ten list from 11th and 13th a year ago. The Toyota Aqua slipped two rank places despite an increase in sales.

The Honda Freed slipped four rank positions with weaker sales. It was the best-selling Honda model in Japan — the Honda Fit slipped from 9th to 15th.

The Toyota Crown was the only new entrant in the list of top 20 models — sales were up by 142% but it moved up only from 22nd a year ago to 20th. The Toyota Passo slipped from 19th to 27th despite increasing sales by a fifth.

The Honda N-Box was again the most popular minicar in Japan in 2023 and with 231,385 sales comfortably outsold the Toyota Yaris.

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