How thrilled Toyota must be that it continues to have no competition in the Japanese domestic market from Honda and Nissan’s luxury brands – Acura and Infiniti.
You don’t see too many news stories about sales of luxury vehicles in Japan but you should. Last year, Toyota’s premium brand sold 42,364 cars and SUVs, almost 10,000 more than BMW, its nearest competitor.
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So what’s behind the success of Lexus in what is now its second largest national market behind the US? Simply put, the brand is in the right place at the right time. The Japanese market had a wretched early 2011 but then recovered somewhat towards the end of the year and is now firmly in high-growth mode. Registrations of passenger vehicles for February 2012 were up 29.5% to 519,626, which includes 186,413 Kei-class minivehicles. That marks the sixth consecutive month of year on year gains.
The Japanese government’s tax incentives and the return of subsidies targeted at replacing older cars with new, more fuel efficient vehicles are each playing a major role in reversing the declines of 2010 and first half of 2011.
For Toyota, the news continues to look particularly good, thanks to Japan’s hybrid-favouring incentives (EVs and so-called ‘clean’ diesels are also eligible for tax benefits). Last month, registrations of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Japan rose by 38.2%, while those for Honda, the other major seller of petrol-electric cars, jumped 46.7%.
Honda and Nissan have said on many occasions that they have no plans to launch Acura and Infiniti in the home market. Surely that must now be under review because, while they wait, Lexus continues to win.
