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

'Yen's direct hit' causes all three German brands to fall...EV share rises to 17% due to subsidy effect

Imported car sales in Japan decreased in the first half of this year for the first time in two years, affected by 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 imported car registrations (excluding Japanese brands) in the first half of the year, 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, EV sales continued an eight-year consecutive increase, reaching 19,862 units. As a result, the share of EVs in the imported car market rose by 5 percentage points to 17%.

EV growth was led by Tesla.

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

This was driven by a Japanese government subsidy of 1.27 million yen, close to the maximum of 1.3 million yen (approximately 12.28 million won), and Tesla's effective 3-year free charging station promotion.

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

BYD plans to continue its offensive with the 'LaCo' light electric vehicle, scheduled for release later this month.

German brands were directly hit by the weak yen.

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

The European car industry stated, "Market conditions for imported cars are very difficult due to the weak yen."

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

This is a strategy to strengthen its weak PHV lineup in response to BYD's offensive in Mexico, a key market for Nissan where it holds the number one market share.