Off-road vehicle sales increase in Japan - Asia Report - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Automotive Industries,  July, 2002  

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Sales of four-wheel-drive variant vehicles are on the rise in Japan with Toyota selling the most but Suzuki seeing the highest-percentage increase.

The Japanese market for four-wheel-drive vehicles grew slightly in 2001, rising 1% to 1.35 million units and representing nearly one-fifth of new car and truck sales. The total was 27% below the 1996 peak of 1.86 million.

Meanwhile, sales of traditional "off-road" vehicles, powered by new entries like the Nissan X-Trail and Toyota Kluger V, rose 10% to 256,913 units, reversing a four-year downturn from a peak of 449,460 in 1996. Sales in 2000 fell to 223,605 units.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s Pajero SUV, Japan's 4WD benchmark, has witnessed a decline from 81,700 units in 1992 to 1,000 units today. Other big losers include Nissan Motor Co.'s Terrano and Toyota Motor Corp.'s 4WD Land Cruiser.

In other product segments, sales of 4W0 minivehicles totaled 552,652 units during the year, the third highest number on record. In 2001, minivehicles accounted for 41% of 4W0 demand. More importantly, sedans and hatchbacks now account for 55% of sales of 4WD minis. Against this backdrop, the share held by 660cc trucks now stands at 33%, down from 50% in 1991 and 63% in 1981.

Above 660cc, Toyota sold 320,818 units in 2001. Toyota, with 58 model variants, was followed by Nissan, at 126,994 units, and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., at 102,951.

The leading model was Fuji's Subaru Legacy, at 62,772 units, followed by Toyota's Estima van, at 40,415, and Nissan's X-Trail, at 39,001.

The big winners during the year were Nissan, Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Co., with sales up 113.5%, 19.8%, 19.3% and 48.3% respectively. The big losers were Mitsubishi and Fuji, with sales off 21.4% and 11.4%.

In a related development, global demand for coupling devices, key to increased sales of front-wheel-drive 4WD systems, is expected to grow to 2.3 million units in 2005, up from 1.9. million last year, according to an industry estimate.

4WD SALES LEADER BY MANUFACTURER (IN UNITS):

               2001 (Compared to 2000)  2000

Toyota         320,181 (-1.7%)          326,294
Nissan         126,994 (+13.5%)         126,994
Subaru         102,951 (-11.4%)         116,202
Honda          92,166 (+19.8%)          76,958
Mitsubishi     67,110 (-21.4%)          85,368
Mazda          36,635 (+19.3%)          30,715
Suzuki         17,935 (+48.3%)          12,092
Daihatsu       8,211 (+3.7%)            7,917
Isuzu          5,643 (-16.6%)           6,764
Hino           624 (+20.2%)             519
Nissan Diesel  81 (+11%)                73

Total          796,886                  789,886
4WD VEHICLE SALES, BY CATEGORY (IN UNITS):

      Total      Mini      Standard
                 vehicles  vehicles

1993  1,261,015  432,248   829,767
1994  1,408,029  462,637   945,392
1995  1,626,802  550,323   1,076,479
1996  1,861,692  573,239   1,288,453
1997  1,617,424  505,852   1,111,572
1998  1,389,855  470,078   919,777
1999  1,412,309  609,930   802,379
2000  1,338,023  548,136   789,887
2001  1,348,902  552,654   796,250
4WD SALES LEADER BY MODEL (IN UNITS):

                             2001 (4WD share) *  2000

Legacy (Subaru)              62,772 (100%)       66,953
Estima (Toyota)              40,415 (34%)        39,791
X-Trail (Nissan)             39,001 (91%)        7,303 **
Corolla (Toyota)             27,812 (14%)        17,300
Step wagon (Honda)           22,629 (21%)        15,383
Forester (Subaru)            22,308 (100%)       30,851
Land Cruiser wagon (Toyota)  20,827 (100%)       24,509
Stream (Honda)               18,468 (15%)        1,684 **
Impreza (Subaru)             17,849 (63%)        18,286
Lancer (Mitsubishi)          15,638 (28%)        4,776
RAV4 (Toyota)                15,227 (59%)        21,013
Odyssey (Honda)              14,590 (21%)        25,780
Elgrand (Nissan)             14,369 (45%)        18,457
Vitz (Toyota)                14,210 (10%)        15,275
Pajero iO (Mitsubishi)       13,189 (94%)        28,828
Ipsum (Toyota)               12,887 (19%)        5,417
Serena wagon (Nissan)        12,618 (23%)        14,378
CR-V (Honda)                 10,997 (77%)        9,702
Kluger V (Toyota)            10,804 (47%)        818
Hiace (Toyota)               10,710 (26%)        10,997

* This is the 4WD penetration rate within the medal range. For instance,
Toyota sold 118,901 Estima vans in Japan last year, of these, 40,415
were equipped with 4WD.

** The model was introduced to the market during the year, thus are not
12-month results.

This article was provided exclusively to Automotive Industries by J-Reports, a new information service offering in-depth coverage of automotive technology developments and trends in Japan and Asia from industry experts based in Tokyo. For additional information about this and other studies and prices, contact jreports@attglobal.net.

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