Japan’s new car market fell 3.5% to 394,965 units in February 2026, from strong sales of 409,348 units last year, according to registration data from the Japan Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
The auto market in Japan remains sluggish, following recent interest rate hikes and weak domestic sentiment against a backdrop of sluggish economic growth. GDP growth slowed to 0.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, mainly reflecting a slowdown in private consumption growth. The auto market is also up against strong data from a year ago, when Daihatsu’s production rebounded from earlier declines following its safety test cheating scandal.
Car sales in the first two months of the year fell 2.9% to 762,717 units after rising nearly 16% to 785,606 a year ago, passenger car sales fell 6.8% to 636,374 units, while truck sales rose more than 23% to 112,816 units. Sales of medium and large buses and coaches declined by nearly 18% to 1,527 units.
Toyota led the market with a 6% year-over-year sales decline to 232,761 units, mainly reflecting a nearly 12% decline in passenger car sales to 201,771 units. Its Daihatsu subsidiary continued to bounce back from earlier production shutdowns, with sales rising by nearly 15% to 94,296 units – driven by a sharp increase in truck sales. Suzuki sales fell 3.3% to 124,561 units in the period, while Honda sales fell 3.6% to 103,827 units and Nissan sales fell 5.2% to 76,671 units.
Foreign brands account for about 4% of total car sales in Japan, with year-to-date sales up 9% to 30,560 units – including mostly German brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW-Mini, Audi, and Volkswagen.
Global Data forecasts a 3.9% increase in light vehicle sales in the country to 4.69 million units in 2026, followed by a 3.1% increase to 4.52 million in 2025, before a slight decline in 2027.
“Japan auto sales fall 3.5% in February” was originally created and published by Just Auto, a brand owned by GlobalData.
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