Japan’s new vehicle market expanded by just over 5% year-on-year to 393,160 units in June 2025 from 373,599 units in the same month last year, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
The vehicle market last month continued to recover from weak year-earlier levels, when Daihatsu Motor - Toyota Motor’s small car subsidiary - was forced to halt production of a number of key models following its widely covered safety test rigging scandal. This also affected other affiliated brands, including Mazda and Subaru.
In the first six months of 2025, the market expanded by 10% to 2,345,459 units after falling by 13% to 2,127,490 in the same period last year, with sales of passenger cars rising by 11% to 1,989,384 units, while truck sales increased by 9% to 350,442 units, and medium and large bus and coach sales were up by 8% to 5,633 units.
Toyota’s domestic sales rose by 14% to 724,267 units in the first half of the year, while Daihatsu’s sales more than doubled to 261,963 units from very depressed year-earlier levels, and Mazda’s volumes rebounded by 19% to 81,577 units. Brands not affected by last year’s production stoppages have not performed as well this year, including Suzuki which saw its sales rise just slightly to 377,344 units, while Honda’s sales declined by over 6% to 319,707 units, and Nissan’s sales were down by over 10% to 220,495 units.
Overseas brands accounted for just 4% of total vehicle sales in Japan year-to-date, led by German automakers including Mercedes-Benz, BMW-Mini, Audi, and Volkswagen.
