Nissan Leaf sales are up 206.5% thanks to the new generation.

New vehicle sales in Japan drop -2.3% year-on-year in January to 367,748 units. Toyota (-3.5%) drops slightly faster than the market but still manages a strong 31.5% share vs. 29.7% in December. Suzuki (-0.7%) and Honda (-1.8%) are stable above a very dynamic Daihatsu (+10.6%). The Top 11 brands are in the exact same order as the Full Year 2025 ranking. Among them, Lexus (+12%) and Isuzu (+1.1%) are the only ones in positive. Mercedes (-12.6%) – still by far the most popular foreign brand, Nissan (-11.1%) and Mazda (-10.6%) suffer, while Mitsubishi (-3.4%) and Subaru (-5.3%) resist better. Just below, Volkswagen (-41.4%) implodes. BYD (+239.6%) and Porsche (+23.7%) shine but only account for 0.05% and 0.3% share respectively.

Looking at the regular cars charts, the Toyota Yaris/Cross (-31.2%) sinks to just under 11,200 sales, meaning the Toyota Sienta (+5.7%) is the true best-seller once again when Yaris and Yaris Cross sales are separated. The Toyota Raize (+36%) excels at #3, distancing the Toyota Corolla/Cross (-34.4%) and Alphard (-20.3%) both in trouble. Toyota monopolises the Top 7 with the Roomy (+22.9%) and Voxy (+14.5%) in tow and both in excellent shape. The Honda Freed (-7.4%) is the best of the rest at #8. Outstanding performance of the Suzuki Jimny Wagon (+189.9%) inside the Top 10 for the very first time. The Toyota bZ4X is up 6504% to #28 and the Nissan Leaf up 206.5% to #37.

As for kei cars, the Honda N-BOX (+0.9%) is stable and dominates again ahead of the Suzuki Spacia (-5.6%). The Daihatsu Move (+27.7%) overtakes the Daihatsu Tanto (-14.3%) for third place with the Nissan Roox (+41.1%) rounding out the Top 5 like last month and boosted by a new generation. Excellent performance also by the Mitsubishi Delica Mini/eK (+31.5%).

Previous post: Japan Full Year 2025: Honda N-BOX and Toyota Sienta top market up 3.3%

One year ago: Japan January 2025: Sales up 12.4% on low year-ago volumes

Full January 2026 Top 46 All brands, Top 50 regular cars and Top 31 All kei cars below.

Japan January 2026 – brands:

Pos	Brand	Jan-26	%	/25	Dec
1	Toyota	116,007	31.5%	– 3.5%	1
2	Suzuki	60,863	16.6%	– 0.7%	2
3	Honda	49,411	13.4%	– 1.8%	3
4	Daihatsu	45,251	12.3%	+ 10.6%	4
5	Nissan	35,296	9.6%	– 11.1%	5
6	Mazda	11,657	3.2%	– 10.6%	6
7	Mitsubishi	9,883	2.7%	– 3.4%	7
8	Subaru	7,791	2.1%	– 5.3%	8
9	Lexus	7,048	1.9%	+ 12.0%	10
10	Isuzu	5,404	1.5%	+ 1.1%	9
11	Mercedes	3,031	0.8%	– 12.6%	11
12	Hino	2,623	0.7%	– 16.1%	15
13	Mitsubishi Fuso	2,597	0.7%	+ 45.9%	12
14	Volkswagen	1,528	0.4%	– 41.4%	14
15	BMW	1,383	0.4%	– 16.5%	13
16	Audi	1,068	0.3%	– 18.4%	16
17	Porsche	976	0.3%	+ 23.7%	24
18	UD Trucks	870	0.2%	+ 1.3%	19
19	Mini	849	0.2%	– 6.9%	17
20	Volvo	676	0.2%	+ 2.1%	18
21	Land Rover	407	0.1%	– 47.9%	22
22	Peugeot	344	0.1%	+ 3.0%	21
23	Jeep	313	0.1%	– 47.7%	20
24	Renault	193	0.1%	– 15.4%	27
25	BYD	180	0.0%	+ 239.6%	26
26	Fiat	140	0.0%	– 44.0%	25
27	Citroen	132	0.0%	– 25.4%	23
28	Alfa Romeo	128	0.0%	+ 91.0%	28
29	Ferrari	110	0.0%	+ 64.2%	30
30	Hyundai	80	0.0%	+ 95.1%	29
31	Alpina	56	0.0%	+ 522.2%	36
32	Rolls-Royce	51	0.0%	+ 54.5%	31
33	Chevrolet	39	0.0%	+ 105.3%	40
34	Lamborghini	38	0.0%	– 20.8%	33
35	Maserati	35	0.0%	+ 0.0%	32
36	Aston Martin	31	0.0%	+ 19.2%	37
37	Scania	30	0.0%	– 11.8%	34
38	Abarth	20	0.0%	– 80.6%	38
39	McLaren	19	0.0%	– 32.1%	43
40	Bentley	18	0.0%	+ 63.6%	35
41	Cadillac	14	0.0%	– 54.8%	41
42	Ford	14	0.0%	+ 40.0%	42
43	DS	12	0.0%	– 69.2%	39
44	Lotus	8	0.0%	– 75.8%	44
45	Dodge	4	0.0%	+ 33.3%	45
46	Lancia	3	0.0%	+ 50.0%	46
–	Others	1,117	0.3%	+ 206.0%	–

Japan January 2026 – regular cars:

Pos	Model	Jan-26	/25	Dec
1	Toyota Yaris/Cross	11,192	– 31.2%	1
2	Toyota Sienta	10,145	+ 5.7%	2
3	Toyota Raize	9,239	+ 36.0%	3
4	Toyota Corolla/Cross	9,218	– 34.4%	4
5	Toyota Alphard	7,860	– 20.3%	7
6	Toyota Roomy	7,694	+ 22.9%	5
7	Toyota Voxy	7,190	+ 14.5%	9
8	Honda Freed	7,135	– 7.4%	6
9	Toyota Noah	6,439	+ 5.3%	8
10	Suzuki Jimny Wagon	6,322	+ 189.9%	14
11	Nissan Serena	6,263	– 6.4%	10
12	Honda Vezel	6,028	+ 14.4%	12
13	Nissan Note	5,714	– 31.1%	11
14	Toyota Aqua	5,268	– 17.4%	16
15	Honda StepWGN	5,205	+ 38.8%	13
16	Toyota Harrier	4,678	– 8.5%	15
17	Suzuki Solio	4,456	– 22.4%	17
18	Toyota Land Cruiser W	4,385	– 13.1%	21
19	Toyota Crown	4,329	– 17.2%	19
20	Toyota Prius	4,103	– 50.1%	20
21	Honda Fit	3,435	– 5.2%	18
22	Toyota Vellfire	3,317	+ 22.6%	25
23	Subaru Impreza	2,577	+ 1.3%	24
24	Mazda CX-5	2,499	+ 6.4%	22
25	Suzuki Xbee	2,205	+ 140.7%	26
26	Mitsubishi Delica D5	2,073	– 0.6%	43
27	Honda WR-V	1,688	– 44.9%	30
28	Toyota bZ4X	1,651	+ 6504.0%	40
29	Nissan X-Trail	1,621	– 23.8%	35
30	Honda Civic	1,589	– 14.7%	36
31	Daihatsu Rocky	1,573	– 1.0%	27
32	Suzuki Swift	1,559	– 34.8%	29
33	Lexus LBX	1,557	– 2.9%	31
34	Subaru Forester	1,546	– 11.4%	23
35	Toyota RAV4	1,546	– 27.4%	42
36	Mazda2	1,386	– 34.8%	28
37	Nissan Leaf	1,376	+ 206.5%	49
38	Lexus NX350H	1,327	– 41.5%	34
39	Subaru Levorg	1,067	+ 13.1%	32
40	Suzuki Fronx	1,044	– 24.8%	39
41	Mazda CX-30	1,042	– 9.7%	33
42	Toyota JPN Taxi	914	+ 1.1%	46
43	Honda ZR-V	882	– 59.4%	41
44	Mazda MX-5 (Roadster)	840	+ 38.4%	n/a
45	Mitsubishi Outlander	823	– 32.5%	n/a
46	Lexus RX350	808	+ 7980.0%	n/a
47	Mazda CX-60	798	+ 474.1%	n/a
48	Lexus RX500H	749	+ 6141.7%	48
49	Honda Odyssey	738	– 10.1%	n/a
50	Nissan Kicks	685	– 39.8%	45

Japan January 2026 – kei cars:

Pos	Model	Jan-26	/25	Dec
1	Honda N-BOX	16,534	+ 0.9%	1
2	Suzuki Spacia	14,048	– 5.6%	2
3	Daihatsu Move	10,533	+ 27.7%	4
4	Daihatsu Tanto	10,263	– 14.3%	3
5	Nissan Roox	9,328	+ 41.1%	5
6	Suzuki Hustler	7,130	– 7.7%	6
7	Mitsubishi Delica Mini/eK	5,362	+ 31.5%	7
8	Suzuki WagonR	4,958	– 12.9%	8
9	Daihatsu Mira	4,256	– 6.9%	9
10	Suzuki Alto	3,838	– 21.9%	10
11	Daihatsu Taft	3,749	– 28.7%	12
12	Nissan Dayz	3,407	– 22.0%	11
13	Suzuki Jimny	2,812	– 35.8%	13
14	Honda N-WGN	1,965	– 2.4%	14
15	Suzuki Every Wagon	1,674	+ 2.4%	16
16	Honda N-ONE	1,390	+ 40.8%	15
17	Mazda Flair Wagon	1,303	– 5.7%	17
18	Subaru Stella	764	new	18
19	Daihatsu Copen	713	+ 76.9%	21
20	Nissan Sakura	670	– 70.7%	20
21	Toyota Pixis	619	+ 13.4%	19
22	Nissan Clipper Rio	474	– 27.0%	22
23	Mazda Flair Crossover	473	– 33.3%	23
24	Mazda Carol	437	+ 43.8%	24
25	Mazda Flair	409	+ 30.3%	26
26	Subaru Chiffon	205	– 61.7%	25
27	Subaru Pleo	177	– 20.6%	27
28	Mitsubishi eK Cross EV	94	– 63.8%	30
29	Toyota Copen GR Sport	84	+ 127.0%	29
30	Mazda Scrum Wagon	73	– 33.6%	28
31	Mitsubishi Town Box	37	+ 0.0%	31

Source: JADA, JMVA, JAIA