Japan 2024. Auto Market Down By Double-Digits In February (-14.3%)

20361

Japan Auto Market slightly decreasing at the start of 2024. Total sales in February reach 202,301 units (-14.3%). Honda moves up to 2nd place, increasing by 60.0%.

Market Trend and Outlook

The Japanese Auto Market in February 2024 registered a total of 202,301 units, a 14.3% setback compared to the previous year. Second negative months after a positive trend which lasted for 16 months. YTD sales reach 395,120 units (-9.8%).

Looking at cumulative data up to February 2024, brand-wise Toyota maintained 1st with 180,435 sales (-23.1%), followed by Honda -up 1 spot- at 62,040 (+60.0%), Nissan -down 1 spot- at 44,998 registrations (+12.7%), Suzuki -up 1 spot- at 23,368 (+6.3%), Mazda -down 1 spot- with 16,008 sales (-38.4%), Subaru -up 1 spot- at 15,152 (+15.2%) and Lexus -down 1 spot- with 14,667 new registrations (-7.2%).

Mercedes gained 1 spot ranking in 8th with 7,546 sales (+2.4%), in front of Mitsubishi -down 1 spot- with 6,411 sales (-18.6%) and Volkswagen -up 3 spots- closed the Top 10 with 4,175 new car registrations (+14.3%).

Looking at specific models the Honda N-Box was the best seller despite a 13.8% decrease in year-on-year sales, followed by the Toyota Corolla -up 1 spot- down 6.4%.

Medium-Term Market Trend

The Japanese auto-market in the last decade hasn’t performed amazingly. With its last great rise in 2012 (+26%), sales have remained between the 5 and 5.5 million range until 2019 with the peak reached in 2014.

With the global pandemic in 2020 the entire world economy slowed down drastically, stores and manufactures closing down and most economies taking a beating. The Japanese auto market was no exception falling 12.5% and bringing sales to the mid 4 million range. Although the Japanese market did drop compared to other economies it stood its ground relatively well.

In the last few years the Japanese auto market hasn’t recovered from the fall in 2020. External factors are to blame for this fall in demand for automotives: firstly the lack of raw materials has lead car manufacturers to raise prices and waiting times for cars; another reason is that more and more manufacturers are pushing towards electric that on average costs much more than a diesel or petrol car. This being said despite the terrible performance in 2022, the Japanese market still maintains one of the largest auto markets in the world.

The Japanese Auto Market in 2023 registered a total of 2.65 million units, an expected 19.3% increase compared to the previous year.

Tables with sales figures

In the tables below we report sales for all Brands, top 10 Manufacturers Group and top 10 Models.

This content is for members only.
Login Join Now