Japan In January: Back In The Fast Lane
Japanese car sales are coming back with a vengeance, reports The Nikkei [sub] Sales of new vehicles (exluding minivehicles, or Kei cars) rose 36.8 percent to 238,362 units. That according to data by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. January marks the sixth consecutive month of growth, and the increase is the largest ever recorded for the month of January. Minivehicles edged up 0.7 percent to 128,297 units in January, recording their first rise in 15 months, as per data by the Japan Mini Vehicles Association.
The climb is robust as evidenced by the size of the vehicles: Sales of standard-size models surged 68.1 percent to 106,290 units, small cars added 25.2 percent to 113,554 units.
By brand, regular vehicles:
Toyota (ex Daihatsu, Hino, Lexus): 117,154 sold, up 42.9 percent.
By brand, minivehicles:
Daihatsu: 44,802 units sold, up 0.3 percent.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
Mitsubishi up 55.7%? Nice one! But isn't the majority of this growth come from artificial means (i.e Bangers for Cash)?
Yeah. But the growth of bigger vehicles is interesting. Different than in Europe where people who would never buy new bought new, small & cheap.
Only 6,510 cars for Honda? Is that a typo or real (especially since it seems to be a 65.3% growth, too)?
I hope you did not mean that literally and that the missing digit in the post did not translate into a now missing digit on your person ;)