Japanese Car Market Roaring Back To Life

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

You have to hand it to the Japanese. They have their numbers down pat. Which country knows on December 1 how many cars they have sold in all of November? Japan does. And guess what: Sales of new cars and trucks in Japan rose 36 percent year on year to 293,410 units in November, says the Nikkei [sub], quoting numbers released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. And guess what again: This is the fourth straight month that Japanese car sales have been increasing. Hold on, there is more …



The numbers are even more jaw-drop-inducing when trucks are excluded: Sales of trucks fell 10.7 percent to 9,253 units in November.

In November, Nipponese passenger car sales jumped a whopping 43.8 percent to 268,450 units. 117,929 were standard-size models, up 45.5 percent, and 150,521 were compact vehicles, up 42.7 percent. Looks like the Japanese have refound their long lost love with the o-tomobiru.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

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.

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  • Glenn Mercer Glenn Mercer on Dec 01, 2009

    Exactly right. The shaken system has been in place for many years. It absolutely stimulates new car sales, but it has done that for a long time, not suddenly in Fall 2009! (grin)

  • Ekaftan Ekaftan on Dec 01, 2009

    Assuming the wikipedia article is accurate, the shaken is childs play, except for the stupid amount of money they charge for it. Down here my anual 'revision tecnica' is tougher than what the article describes and I passed 3 weeks ago with a 1980 Citroen CX on the 2nd try (and I paid US$30 for the procedure...)

  • Psmisc Psmisc on Dec 01, 2009

    Sorry to digress, but I thought Godzilla was suppose to symbolize American invasion, both military and cultural.

  • John_K John_K on Dec 01, 2009

    Beyond "Initial Quality" all of the union built US cars suck. Bury this industry before the union retards bury the country!

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