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| Nearly 110,000 of the Toyota Voxy were sold |
As far as I am aware, the Japanese car market is not protected by import tariffs. Therefore, there is something unusual when the domestic brands take 93.9% of the passenger car sales in Japan. How is it possible? I think the answer lies in the Japanese society, how they are conditioned to think and act according to community, not individuality. Conservative attitudes make buying a foreign car out of the question for most.
That parochial attitude is shown with Hyundai and Kia cars. They have been ignored by Japanese car buyers and I suspect Chinese brands would also be shunned. Such collective thinking is unheard of in western nations.
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| The Honda Vezel was just short of 100,000 local sales |
The exception to buying Japanese is with premium cars, where Japanese car makers are not strong. Lexus only entered the domestic market in 2005, and other Japanese premium marques such as Acura and Infiniti aren't even sold there it seems. The fact is Lexus cannot outsell either Mercedes and BMW. So the Japanese will make an exception to buying locally made when it comes to premium quality cars.
As you can see below, there is plenty of choice but the volume is with Japanese brands. It will remain that way, as that is how it is in Japan.
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Make | 2014 | % | +/- | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Toyota | 1,343,717 | 28.6% | -3% | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Honda | 816,166 | 17.4% | 12% | |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | Suzuki | 633,984 | 13.5% | 14% | |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Nissan | 569,243 | 12.1% | -1% | |
| 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Daihatsu | 547,762 | 11.7% | 5% | |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Mazda | 199,098 | 4.2% | -1% | |
| 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Subaru | 153,638 | 3.3% | -6% | |
| 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Mitsubishi | 102,778 | 2.2% | -4% | |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | VW | 67,438 | 1.4% | 0% | |
| 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | Mercedes | 60,834 | 1.3% | 13% | |
| 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | BMW | 46,073 | 1.0% | 0% | |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Lexus | 44,246 | 0.9% | -5% | |
| 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | Audi | 31,413 | 0.7% | 10% | |
| 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | MINI | 17,598 | 0.4% | 4% | |
| 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | Volvo | 13,277 | 0.3% | -22% | |
| 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 16 | Chrysler | 8,410 | 0.2% | 15% | |
| 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | Fiat | 7,645 | 0.2% | 9% | |
| 16 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 18 | Peugeot | 5,710 | 0.1% | -4% | |
| 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | Porsche | 5,385 | 0.1% | 11% | |
| 20 | 21 | 23 | 21 | 20 | Renault | 4,662 | 0.1% | 24% | |
| 21 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 21 | Ford | 4,598 | 0.1% | 18% | |
| 27 | 27 | 25 | 22 | 22 | Land Rover | 3,126 | 0.1% | -7% | |
| 23 | 24 | 20 | 23 | 23 | Alfa Romeo | 2,661 | 0.1% | -15% | |
| 22 | 20 | 21 | 24 | 24 | Citroen | 2,407 | 0.1% | -18% | |
| 24 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 25 | GM | 1,753 | -9% | ||
| 30 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 26 | Maserati | 1,407 | 187% | ||
| 26 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 27 | smart | 1,114 | -14% | ||
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 28 | Jaguar | 1,073 | 8% | ||
| 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | Ferrari | 561 | 3% | ||
| 29 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 30 | Lotus | 321 | 5% | ||
| 31 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 31 | Bentley | 317 | 8% | ||
| 38 | 33 | 32 | 33 | 32 | Lamborghini | 187 | -2% | ||
| 32 | 31 | 33 | 32 | 33 | Aston Mart | 168 | -20% | ||
| 34 | 35 | 35 | 34 | 34 | Rolls Royce | 154 | 33% | ||
| - | - | 38 | 35 | 35 | Mclaren | 88 | 5% | ||
| 35 | 36 | 36 | 37 | 36 | MG Rover | 49 | -25% | ||
| 36 | 34 | 34 | 36 | 37 | Lancia | 45 | -44% | ||
| 39 | 39 | 40 | 38 | 38 | Morgan | 21 | -36% | ||
| 33 | 38 | 37 | 39 | 39 | Hyundai | 13 | -7% | ||
| Others | 450 | |
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| Total | 4,699,590 | |
3% |
Data sources: JAIA and JAMA.
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