Japan: 1969-2009 Historical Data now available

1966 Toyota Corolla

2009 Toyota Prius

Japan Historical Data up to 1969 is now available on this site! Over this 40 years period, only 3 models managed to hold the yearly Japanese pole position. The Toyota Corolla – 10 generations of the model – dominated for 37 years: from 1969 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2007. The Honda Fit was on top in 2002 and 2008, and the Toyota Prius shot to stardom in 2009 and 2010.

From 2001 onwards, detailed info is available, including yearly Top 30 Rankings, Kei cars rankings from 2006. Witness the explosive arrival of the Honda Fit, #1 for the first time in November 2001, the 7 months the Toyota Vitz dominated sales in 2005-2006, and discover the success of little known models like the Toyota Wish, #1 in April 2004, and the Toyota Ractis, #1 in October 2005.

Click on ‘Read more’ below for the direct links to these 16 new posts.

Japan March 2011: Quake induces 37% drop, Honda Fit #1

Honda Fit Hybrid

The effect on car sales of the quake and tsunami that devastated the country is now tangible: the Japanese car market dropped 37% in March at 279,389 units. This is the highest year-on-year fall for Nippon car sales since the -55% of May 1974 during the oil-supply crunch. While some dealerships are damaged in the northeast of the country, a lot of dealers in some central areas cannot run showrooms properly because of continued power blackouts.

In this context, auto industry analysts expect sales to fall a further 50% or more in April…

Now to the models ranking. Boosted by the new hybrid version, the Honda Fit takes the top spot for the 2nd time in the last 3 months with 22,284 units and only -3%. It even takes the lead in the 2011 year-to-date ranking at 54,033 registrations! The Toyota Prius is a distant #2 in March at 19,702 sales (-45%) and YTD at 52,523 units.

Nissan March

The next three models stay unchanged and fall slower than the market: the Toyota Vitz  at -13%, Nissan Serena at -10% and Honda Freed at -17%. Only two cars in the Top 30 actually see their sales improve: the Nissan March is up 5 spots at #7 (+5%) and the Nissan Elgrand is #30 at +47%.

The Lexus CT200h, launched last December, appears in the Top 30 for the first time at #26 with 2,460 sales.

Full Top 30 Ranking Table below.

Japan January 2011: Prius dethroned, Fit & Vitz up

Honda Fit Hybrid

The Japanese market is down 21% in January at 187,154 registrations. For the first time in 20 months the Toyota Prius is not #1 in Japan, dethroned by the Honda Fit (aka Jazz), #1 with 14,873 sales possibly thanks to the new Hybrid version. The new gen Toyota Vitz (aka Yaris) is up 26% at #3 with 11,018 sales.

The Toyota Ractis is solid again at #4 with 6,806 units sold (+93%), and a new entrant breaks into the Top 10: the Suzuki Solio, #9 with 3,953 sales. The Nissan Juke drops 5 spots to #17 with 2,691 sales.

More pictures and full Top 30 Ranking Table: click on ‘Read more’ below.

Toyota Vitz

Japan December 2010: new Toyota Ractis #3, Prius breaks record

Japanese car sales increased 11% in 2010 at 3,229,716 registrations, in spite of a very weak 2nd half. The Toyota Prius is the best selling car in Japan for the second year in a row, up 51% to reach 315,669 sales. Never before had a single car sold so many units in a year in Japan, the previous record being held by the Toyota Corolla in 1990 with 300,008 units.

The rest of the Top 5 all improved their sales too: the Honda Fit (Jazz) is up 18% at #2, the Toyota Vitz (Yaris) is up 4% at #3, the Corolla up 23% at #4 and the Honda Freed gains 2 spots and 20% in 5th. The Honda StepWGN registers the highest increase in the Top 20 at +88% and +13 spots in 7th with 80,934 sales.

In December, the new generation Toyota Ractis (Verso S) is off to a great start, climbing from 23rd last month directly to 3rd with 6,670 sales. The Nissan Juke is stable at #12 with 3,034 sales. There are 3 Subarus in the Top 30: the Liberty (#25), Forester (#27) and Impreza (#28). For the December and Full Year 2010 Top 30: click on ‘Read more’ below.

Japan October 2010: new Swift up to #11

Catastrophic month for car sales in Japan: it is the weakest October since 1968 with 193,258 registrations (excluding Kei cars), -27% on 2009, mostly because the government subsidy for fuel- efficient cars ended on Sept. 8.

The Toyota Prius is still safely on top with 21,769 sales, ahead of the Honda Fit (aka Jazz) and Toyota Corolla. The Honda Freed continues its excellent year in 4th: it is ahead of the Toyota Vitz (aka Yaris) for the second consecutive month.

The new generation Suzuki Swift gains 8 spots over September to land in 11th with 3,683 registrations, the Toyota Elgrand slips from 10th to 13th but is at a whopping +747% over Oct 09, and the new generation Nissan March (aka Micra) already drops 7 spots to 15th but with still +62% over last year.

With 10,943 orders in June alone compared to a monthly target of 1,300, the Nissan Juke became a victim of its success and disappeared from the Top 30 in August. It now seems to have solved part of its production problems, back in the Top 20 in 18th with 2,461 registrations in October.

The Toyota Allion is in very good shape this month in 21st at +190% over Oct 09 (pictured below).

Full Top 30 ranking table below.

Japan 2009: Toyota Prius takes off, #1 at 200,000+ sales

Toyota Prius

2009 will be remembered as key in the history of Japan and world automobile. It is the year the Toyota Prius replaced the Corolla as Toyota’s core sales and profits enabler in Japan. It is also the first time a hybrid model took the reins of any car market in the world.

The second generation Prius, launched in 2003, had impressed by its constant progression all the way up to last year when it landed #5 at +22%. The launch of the 3rd generation in May 09 was the coup the grace that propelled the Prius to the Japanese pole position. It shot to #1 in May and never looked back, peaking at 31,759 units in September, ending the year at 208,876 sales.

As a result, the Corolla, operating in the same size category, suffered a massive blow: it dropped 37% to 6th and 90,178 sales, and even ranked 15th in September, its weakest level since the launch of the Corolla nameplate in 1966… For the first time since 1968 the Corolla is not the best selling Toyota in Japan, and the Prius is now the default Toyota model in the country.

Honda Insight

The other significant event of 2009, decidedly the year of the hybrid, is the February launch of the ‘Prius-killer’ from Honda, the Insight. For its 3rd month of sales, it managed to rank #1 in April, however dropped to #3 with the arrival of the new gen Prius, and except from one showing in December never managed to climb onto the podium again, finishing the year in 5th place with 93,283 sales.

Honda Fit

The Honda Fit slips down a reasonable 10% in 2nd place with 157,324 sales, followed by the Toyota Vitz at -5%. The Toyota Passo has an excellent year in 4th at +36%, and the Honda Freed confirms last year’s good start to rank #7.

Full Top 30 Ranking Table below.

Japan 2008: Honda Fit crowned

Honda Fit

After starting with a bang in November 07, the Honda Fit generation 2 continues to dominate the Japanese sales ranking, on top 10 months out of 12, peaking at 25,933 sales in March and finishing the year at 174,910 sales, up 50%. It is the second year after 2002 that the Honda Fit is the best selling car in Japan.

The Toyota Corolla drops to 2nd at a still respectable 144,051 units, down only 2% year-on-year. It was #1 in October and November 08, the very last two months on top for the Corolla nameplate after 40 years of domination. The Toyota Vitz is up 2% in 3rd place with 123,337 sales.

Toyota Crown

Relaunched this year, the Toyota Crown gets a boost and jumps 10 spots to the 4th position with 74,904 sales (+33%). In 5th, the 5-year-old Toyota Prius continues its age-defying prowess and gains 6 spots and 25% year-on-year to reach 73,110 sales. The Nissan Serena and Toyota Passo resist in 6th and 7th place.

Toyota Prius

Two all-new models break into the Top 30 this year. The Honda Freed, launched in May, is #16 at 50,646 sales and ranked #4 from July to November. The Toyota Vellfire, a sporty version of the Toyota Alphard, is #23 at 38,969 sales and peaked at #6 in November. Notice the Toyota iQ, launched in October, ranking #21 in December.

Full Top 30 Ranking Table: click on ‘Read more’ below the Honda Freed pic.

Honda Freed

Japan 2007: 37th year of Corolla domination (it’s the last one)

Toyota Corolla

The effect of the new generation on Toyota Corolla’s sales in Japan are rather short-lived: from +24% in January, the year-on-year variation slips into negative as early as August. Nevertheless the Corolla was #1 10 (consecutive) months out of 12, and with 147,069 sales up 3%, it is the best selling car in Japan again this year, a feat it has achieved  in 37 out of the last 38 years. 2007 is to this date the last year the Toyota Corolla managed to top the Japanese sales ranking.

Honda Fit

The Toyota Vitz is solid all year round and clocks up 121,377 sales, up 3%. The Honda Fit takes the 3rd spot with 116,561 units (+15%), a figure that doesn’t reflect the impressive sales surge the model enjoyed at the launch of the 2nd generation in November: +147% at 18,138 units that month and +144% at 18,719 units in December compared to 9,958 for the Corolla…

Enjoying the benefits of a light facelift, the Toyota Passo (aka Daihatsu Sirion) climbs to 4th place with 80,015 sales (+11%), passing the Nissan Serena, stable at #5, and the Toyota Estima, down two spots at #6. The Toyota Voxy and Noah, two versions of a boxy SUV revamped this year, both do very well, ranking respectively #7 at +16% and #10 at +12%. The Voxy peaked at #4 in August.

Toyota Voxy

The Mazda Demio new generation breaks into the Top 10 in 8th place with 65,507 sales, peaking at #5 in July. Notice the excellent progression of the Toyota Prius: without the help of any restyling, it divides its ranking by two, going from #22 in 2006 to #11 in 2007, its sales improving by 20% at 58,315 units.

Full Top 30 Ranking Table below.

Japan 2006: New generation enables Corolla to keep the lead

The Toyota Corolla returns to its traditional Japanese market domination pattern and leads 8 months out of 12. The 10th generation of the model is launched in October and sales reflect it immediately: the Corolla is up 48% year-on-year in November and 52% in December. Full Year 2006 sales are down 4% at 143,176 units.

The Toyota Vitz takes advantage of the previous gen Corolla running out of steam mid-year to take the lead in April, July and August. It sells 117,641 units this year, down 11% but still ahead of the Honda Fit, #1 in September and #3 overall at 101,793 sales (-19%).

Toyota Estima

The best performing new model this year is the revamped Toyota Estima (aka Previa/Tarago) up 172% year-on-year in 4th place with 95,626 sales. It was #2 in February and March and #3 in April, July, October and November, peaking at 16,663 units. The Nissan Serena also enjoys the effects of its substantial facelift, up 9 spots to rank 5th overall with 80,901 sales.

Nissan Serena

The Honda StepWGN and Toyota Ractis both confirm their 2005 sales surge by ranking 6th and 8th overall respectively. The new gen Toyota bB (aka Scion xB) is a total success: it is 4th in January (6,884 sales) and 5th in February (9,358 sales) and finishes the year at #15 at 62,964 units, up 15 spots and 61%.

16 years after the US launch, the Lexus brand is finally deployed in Japan in 2005. In October 2006, a Lexus model, the LS460, breaks into the Japanese Top 30 for the very first time at #28 with 2,570 sales. It ranks #21 in November (3,860 units) and #26 in December (2,835).

Full Top 30 Ranking Table: click on ‘Read more’ below the Lexus LS460 pic.

Lexus LS460

Japan 2005: Toyota Vitz threatens Corolla, Ractis starts strong

Toyota Vitz

Lots of new models and changes this year in Japan, even though the Toyota Corolla stays #1 at 149,810 sales (-14%), ranking first 6 times. The new generation Toyota Vitz (aka Yaris) is an immediate hit: it is #1 for its first month of sales in February and holds the pole position for 4 months, peaking at 22,135 sales in March and finishing the year #2 with 131,935 units (+114%).

Toyota Ractis

In 3rd place, the Honda Fit drops 16% at 125,894 units, it was #1 in December only. The fourth model to rank #1 this year doesn’t appear in the 2005 Top 30 because of its late launch: the Toyota Ractis racks up 9,861 sales (#2) for its first month in October, and takes the lead of Japanese sales in November at 11,673 units…

Nissan Note

The Nissan Tiida is #4 with 98,069 sales for its first full year, it was even #2 in January only 35 units below the Corolla! Other excellent performers this year include the Nissan Note, directly #5 for its first year at 93,925 units and peaking at #3 in February, and the new gen Honda StepWGN, #7 overall with 91,745 sales but #2 in June and August just below the Corolla.

Full Top 30 Ranking Table: click on ‘Read more’ below the Honda StepWGN pic.

Honda StepWGN