Japan’s new vehicle market expanded by 1.7% to 335,459 units in December 2025, up from 329,786 units a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
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The positive end to the year came after five consecutive months of decline for the market, after a strong rebound in the first half of the year, following last year’s production stoppages at Daihatsu Motor. The overall market remains sluggish, however, with Japanese consumers coming under increased pressure from rising vehicle loan repayment rates. The Bank of Japan raised its key policy rate again in December to a decades-high of 0.75%.
In the whole of 2025, Japan’s vehicle market expanded by 3.3% to 4,565,777 units, after declining by 7.5% to 4,421,494 units in 2024, with sales of passenger cars rising by 3.0% to 3,836,380 units and truck sales up by 3.9% to 719,491 units, while sales of medium and large buses and coaches declined by almost 2% to 9,906 units.
Brands affected by the prolonged 2024 stoppages, namely Daihatsu, Toyota, and Mazda, outperformed last year. Toyota’s domestic sales rose by over 4% to 1,413,632 units, while Daihatsu’s sales rebounded by 46% to 535,919 units from very depressed levels, and Mazda’s volumes increased by 5% to 149,526 units. Brands not affected by the production stoppages did not perform as well last year, including Suzuki which saw its sales rise by just over 1% to 728,952 units, while Honda’s sales declined by over 7% to 619,437 units, and Nissan’s sales dropped by 15% to 403,105 units.
Overseas brands accounted for just over 5% of total vehicle sales in Japan last year, led by German automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW-Mini, Audi, and Volkswagen.
