And Now, All The Japanese Numbers
While we are waiting for the U.S. July sales table to populate, let me entertain or bore you with all the numbers from Japan. This was made possible by the , the Japan Mini Vehicles Association finally publishing its outstanding table. Domo arigatou.
As we well know by now, sales of regular vehicles are only part of the Japanese story. Two thirds of the story, to be exact ( in a way.)
Mini vehicle sales Japan July ’12ManufacturerJuly ’12July ’11YoYYTD ’12YTD ’11ChangeSuzuki52,04843,78018.9%368,555269,85436.6%Daihatsu64,79048,24234.3%444,869299,88348.3%Mitsubishi7,2727,2390.5%54,69957,560-5.0%Subaru5,4587,890-30.8%52,29446,44012.6%Honda28,98110,803168.3%190,65775,217153.5%Mazda4,8993,14655.7%32,98626,27125.6%Nissan15,06310,48043.7%103,27080,40228.4%Toyota6,067027,647Other46-33.3%27258.0%Total184,582131,58640.3%1,275,004855,65249.0%Sales of mini vehicles add the remaining third of Japanese car sales. Here, we see Toyota’s mini vehicle division Daihatsu still ruling the roost, but as Derek reports after reading just-auto, Suzuki is coming on strong when it comes to keis.
Total vehicle sales Japan July ’12ManufacturerJuly ’12July ’11YoYMS July ’12MS July ’11Daihatsu65,06248,55834.0%12.7%13.0%Hino2,9292,65010.5%0.6%0.7%Honda74,60844,51467.6%14.5%11.9%Isuzu4,7643,55933.9%0.9%1.0%Lexus4,4814,528-1.0%0.9%1.2%Mazda21,78921,1812.9%4.2%5.7%Mitsubishi11,12811,979-7.1%2.2%3.2%Mitsubishi Fuso2,8352,13332.9%0.6%0.6%Nissan59,94852,29014.6%11.7%14.0%Subaru15,64914,06911.2%3.0%3.8%Suzuki60,31750,91118.5%11.8%13.6%Toyota171,733101,79068.7%33.5%27.3%UD Trucks600700-14.3%0.1%0.2%Other17,28214,19621.7%3.4%3.8%Total513,125373,05837.5%All cars considered, the situation looks like this. In July, that 6,000 unit gap between Suzuki and Nissan shrunk to 369, but Suzuki is still ahead …
Japan Big Three July ’12GroupToyota Motor CoNissanHondaUnits July ’12239,72459,94874,608Units July ’11152,99852,29044,514Units YoY56.7%14.6%67.6%MS July ’1246.7%11.7%14.5%MS July ’1141.0%14.0%11.9%Units YTD ’121,535,721426,566505,556Units YTD ’11901,950287,284289,886MS YTD ’1244.4%12.3%14.6%MS YTD ’1139.3%12.5%12.6%YoY YTD70.3%48.5%74.4%And here, the all-important group level view.
See, Japanese numbers aren’t that hard at all!
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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Actually the Chinese characters were introduced to Japan much earlier… in the AD200’s by intellectuals fleeing from Korean peninsula as China started losing its control over people there. Thence the name kanji (Han characters). Thereafter, Buddhist missionaries brought scriptures written in the Chinese characters, which themselves are phonetic translation of Sanskrit. The Japanese found the Chinese characters so convenient and started using them in their writing of their own language inventing along the way phonetic signs kana (kind of simplified kanji) and hirakana (streamelined kana). This is the reason why there are two or more pronunciations of a character in Japan - traditional Japanese way and the Chinese way. Since the Chinese let the Japanese use the Chinese characters and other cultural and technological knowledge free of charge, they think they have the right to copy the design of Corolla and other Japanese products, logos and tradenames.
Getting back to the subject of the post, Isuzu figures are for primarily their heavier trucks, they do not sell SUV's in Japan. Same with Mitsubishi Fuso(now part of Daimler) and Nissan UD now UD Trucks owned by Volvo.