Japan's May Sellers: Hybrids And Midgetmobiles

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Hybrids and minivehicles continue to top Japan’s list of best-selling cars in May. With 20,789 units sold, Toyota’s Prius is leading the list now for the 12th month in a row. Hot on its heels is Toyota’s Aqua, better known in the U.S. as Prius C. Only supply constraints at Toyota can keep the compact and affordable hybrid from taking the top spot.

Rank 4 and 5 are occupied by minivehicles . Honda’s Fit is ranked fifth. Six out of the top ten best-selling cars in Japan are minivehicles.

RankModelBrandUnitsYoYType1PriusToyota20,789220.3%REG2AquaToyota20,091N/AREG3NBOXHonda19,35414.3%KEI4MiraDaihatsu17,47612.4%KEI5FitHonda14,53455.4%REG6TantoDaihatsu13,5710.6%KEI7Wagon RSuzuki12,6743.6%KEI8MoveDaihatsu12,6204.4%KEI9AltoSuzuki10,3341.7%KEI10FreedHonda8,14276.8%REG11VitzToyota7,789-1.0%REG12SerenaNissan7,01221.6%REG13Step WagonHonda5,74584.9%REG14PaletteSuzuki5,5401.1%KEI15MR WagonSuzuki5,44536.2%KEI16DemioMazda5,17583.7%REG17VELLFIREToyota5,118317.1%REG18RookNissan4,99110.1%KEI19NoteNissan4,32248.8%REG20AlphardToyota4,286433.1%REG21SwiftSuzuki4,01084.8%REG22CorollaToyota4,00821.2%REG23MocoNissan3,956-36.4%KEI24PassoToyota3,79149.0%REG25SolioSuzuki3,45629.1%REG26VoxyToyota3,40549.5%REG27LifeHonda3,253-17.8%KEI28WishToyota3,23159.0%REG29CX-5Mazda2,890N/AREG30RactisToyota2,873-23.1%REG31JukeNissan2,68851.0%REG32SientaToyota2,612N/AREG33PyxisToyota2,564225.8%KEI3486Toyota2,432N/AREG35TidusNissan2,42237.1%REG36NoahToyota2,41731.4%REG37CubeNissan2,319-11.2%REG38EstimaToyota2,26748.6%REG39LegacySubaru2,20758.9%REG40CrownToyota2,06341.3%REG41X-TRAILNissan1,90418.9%REG42MarchNissan1,898-42.0%REG43eKMitsubishi1,8930.2%KEI44AZ-WagonMazda1,77733.2%KEI45StellaSubaru1,74875.0%KEI

The table was compiled from data provided by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Mini Vehicles Association. Separately reported imports are not included in this list. Not that they would make it anyway.

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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  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.
  • Jalop1991 WTO--the BBB of the international trade world.
  • Dukeisduke If this is really a supplier issue (Dana-Spicer? American Axle?), Kia should step up and say they're going to repair the vehicles (the electronic parking brake change is a temporary fix) and lean on or sue the supplier to force them to reimburse Kia Motors for the cost of the recall.Neglecting the shaft repairs are just going to make for some expensive repairs for the owners down the road.
  • MaintenanceCosts But we were all told that Joe Biden does whatever China commands him to!
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