Until March this year, foreign cars accounted for some of the biggest advances in Japan’s market, slicing into Japanese makers’ share. Toyota Motor Corp.’s market share for non-kei cars dropped to 46 percent last year from 48 percent four years ago.
Nissan Motor Co.’s share dropped to 13 percent from 16 percent in the same period, according to Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
Seven of the 10 best-selling non-kei cars in the past 12 months were compacts, including Toyota’s Aqua (pictured above) and Honda Motor Co.’s Fit (pictured below), according to IHS Automotive. No foreign models made the top 10 rankings.
Volkswagen Group’s new Golf compact came the closest, ranking 27th with about 31,000 sold. Last year the Golf became the first foreign model named Japan’s Car of the Year, awarded by the nation’s automotive press. VW’s deliveries including the Polo, Beetle and the Up minicar rose 25 percent through March, to about 72,000 units, helping it stay the best-selling foreign maker for a 14th straight year.
