Japan's H1 imported car sales down 3.5%...EVs up 40% on Tesla's strong performance

Japan's H1 imported car sales down 3.5%...EVs up 40% on Tesla's strong performance

German Big 3 hit hard by 'weak yen'...EV share rises to 17% due to subsidy effects

In the first half of this year, imported car sales in Japan decreased for the first time in two years, largely due to the weak yen.

However, electric vehicle (EV) sales surged by 40% thanks to Tesla's strong performance.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 6th, the number of registered imported cars (excluding Japanese brands) in the first half, as announced by the Japan Automobile Importers Association (JAIA), was 117,896 units, a 3.5% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Among these, EVs accounted for 19,862 units, continuing an upward trend for eight consecutive years. As a result, the share of EVs in the imported car market rose by 5 percentage points to 17%.

Tesla led the growth of electric vehicles.

While Tesla does not disclose individual figures in Japan, sales of 'other brands,' which Tesla largely dominates, surged 2.7 times to 12,197 units.

This was attributed to subsidies from the Japanese government, which amounted to 1.27 million yen, close to the maximum of 1.3 million yen (approximately 12.28 million KRW), as well as Tesla's effective 3-year free charging station promotion.

China's BYD also recorded a 40% increase with 2,388 units.

BYD plans to continue its offensive with the 'Lark' light electric vehicle, scheduled to be released later this month.

German brands were directly hit by the weak yen.

Mercedes-Benz, the top imported car brand, saw an 8% decrease, selling only 23,064 units, while second-place BMW (down 17%) and third-place Volkswagen (down 21%) also performed poorly.

The European car industry stated that "market conditions for imported cars are very difficult due to the impact of the weak yen."

Meanwhile, Japan's Nissan Motor has begun exporting its plug-in hybrid (PHV) pickup truck 'Frontier Pro,' produced at its Chinese factory, to Mexico.

This is a strategy to strengthen its vulnerable PHV lineup in response to BYD's offensive in Mexico, a key market where Nissan holds the top share.