Why U.S. Automakers Don’t Sell Cars in Japan
Jason Lancaster | Dec 21, 2009 | Comments 26
Last week, we evaluated allegations of Japanese protectionism levied by U.S. automakers. While it’s clear that these allegations were nothing more than political posturing, what’s not clear is why U.S. automakers have so much trouble selling cars in Japan.
Looking at Japan’s 2008 auto sales by manufacturer, we find that imports (which include both U.S. vehicles and vehicles from Europe) account for less than 7% of all sales in Japan.
Japan's 2008 total auto sales by manufacturer. Click for a larger view.
Why do Japanese consumers shun imports at a ratio of almost 15 to 1?
While it’s likely that national pride plays an important role in Japan’s auto market (much like it does in the USA), the main reason that U.S. automakers don’t have a lot of success in the Japanese market is that it is very, very different than the U.S.
1. Japanese gas prices are higher. In Japan, the average gallon of gas costs about $5.36 per gallon. In the U.S., the average cost is only $2.60 per gallon (both numbers based on today’s data). Obviously, higher prices in Japan mean that Japanese consumers favor small, fuel efficient vehicles…a vehicle type that U.S. automakers have traditionally struggled to build competitively.
2. Owning a car in Japan is very expensive. Vehicles are 40% more popular in the U.S. than they are in Japan1, and for good reason. Between expensive mandatory inspections (known as shaken), high gas prices, exorbitant parking fees, and registration costs, many Japanese consumers rely upon public transportation2. The Japanese consumers who do buy vehicles try to limit their costs. In other words…
3. Japanese consumers favor very small, inexpensive cars. The best-selling car in Japan in 2008 was the Suzuki Wagon R, a 2,100 lb “minivehicle” with a 92 hp 1.3L motor. Daihatsu’s Move, another minivehicle, and Honda’s Fit (also a minivehicle) took 2nd and 3rd place overall3.
Scale comparison of a 2008 Suzuki Wagon R to a 2008 Ford Focus and a 2008 Toyota Tundra (scale is approximate)
The scale comparison above shows just how small Japan’s best-selling Suzuki Wagon R is. Length isn’t the only difference – a 2008 Focus weighs in at just about 2,600 lbs, whereas the Suzuki weighs about 2,100 lbs. 500 lbs might not sound like much, but in small cars with small motors, it makes a tremendous difference in fuel economy and efficiency. Ford’s Focus is arguably the best compact car offered by a U.S. automaker, and it’s much bigger than Japan’s best-selling compacts.
Considering that Ford, GM, and Chrysler have few (if any) minivehicles in their lineup, nor do they have much in the way of credible compact vehicles, it’s no wonder that these companies fail to sell cars in Japan. It’s hard to imagine how a lack of exports can be construed as anything other than offering the wrong product.
What’s more, U.S. automakers refuse to adjust their product to the Japanese market. Despite the fact consumers in Japan favor very small cars GM’s President of Japan announced plans in January 2009 to begin exporting more SUVs and luxury vehicles to Japan in order to boost sales4. The disconnect between the Japanese consumer and U.S. automakers is profound…and doesn’t seem to be changing.
References:
1. “Motor Vehicle Statistics – Countries Compared,” NationMaster.com
2. “Japan Jumps on the Cash For Clunkers Bandwagon,” Hemmings Auto Blog
3. “Suzuki Wagon R Remains Best Selling Car in Japan,” TheAutoChannel.com
4. “GM Aims To Double Sales in Japan by 2011,” AutoBlog.com
Filed Under: Auto News
That makes total sense.
This is why GM is going under or should I say has gone under. GM exec in charge of sales to Japan says they are going to export more SUV’s and other large vehicles to Japan to increase sales. Well, that is dumb – Japan market does not want big vehicles, so why bother increasing exporting them? GM better concentrate on their US market before they lose that also. What about GM I heard building cars in China of all things? Like that will want me to buy a Chinese made GM car. If GM build a decent tranny and engine as standard anymore without having to get the way too expensive 6.2L V8 to compare to my stock 5.7L tundra, they might get somewhere in the truck market instead of underpowering their engines to save what, maybe 1-2 more mpg than my tundra and cylinder deactivation (or displacement on demand they call it) is a joke not saving hardly anything in gas mileage. Good article though and well noted the big 3 are not offering much smaller cars for the overseas market and ONLY building cars that are still overlapping their own products in a different mfg. of GM, lets say, although that will be changing very soon with Olds gone and now Pontiac and Saturn. Still don’t know why GM is keeping the GMC truck lineup since pretty much the same as Chevy trucks? Enough GM bashing, long live the Tundra, at least here in the US, not Japan.
I love this site, it tailored for the troll in all of us! Mk I feel what your saying take your 5.7 and put it on the GM frame and it would be a match made in heaven, LMAO. But you can not always have your cake and eat it to. Now for the whole Japan thing, can we stop the BS and cover up, who ever writes this must have been on the Bush admiration. So europe doe not have the same standards if not higher standards? Here’s some facts the U.S.A fuel cost at one point was 4 to 5 dollars a gallon, or did we forget. Fuel in europe is measered in liters and is equilvate to Japans fuel cost. Cost of owners ship, does japan charge taxes by the liter of the engine, purpose of vehicle, and amount of seats?? Geramny does! Size well japan may have that all they can do it go up being on a island, well the smart car has them beat and it is from Germany. Long live the Tundra, yea right whining owners are going to bankrupt them, of my frame, oh oil sludge, oh look my brakes worn out.
Moron. What MK said was that GM has to build an engine huge and expensive just to compete with Toyota.
Gm has produced substandard products for substandard comsumers for decades. If you love your GM that says a lot about you. If you truck won’t run long enough for the frame to rust or if it stay parked at the repair shop for most of it’s life, BTW, I have had numerous GM’s and they all were falling to pieces, You will never notice the issues.
Yet another true story. I bought a GMC 1500, Nice truck, for the first few months. I kept it for 2 years. Reason I sold it after 2 years. the shocks fell off. I repeat, the shocks FELL OFF. reason: The frame rusted out at the shock mounts. Not rusty frame like the OLD T100 and old Tundras, Rusted OUT. Faulty metal. I was told I did something to it to make it rust out that fast. :-i No. So i decide, I have to replace this POS so I offloaded it to a dealer and bought me a TAurus, GREAT CAR. I have zero complaints about my Taurus. I also owned a Cavilier at the same time. Bought it new. Kept it for about a year and a half. Taurus had an issue with a clogged drain hose for the ac in that time span. The Cav had abs go out, started burning oil, cv joint on one side went bad, ac stopped working, rear bumper FELL OFF (recurring theme with GM), I was starting to learn so I went and brought it and traded up to a Nissan Sentra. I kept it for almost 8 years total problems: drivers window switch broke at the 3 year mark and the cooling fan went out at the 7 year mark. Switch was Warranty and the fan motor cost me about $40. Oh, I forgot. I accidentally jumped the car and busted a cv boot causing the greese to wash out and I had to replace the CV joint on one side. That was $280. Not the cars fault, Mine.
Bottom line is that for all the issues you claim the Tundra has it is still more reliable and has less issues than any other truck.
Well you must know Mickey, you both must be a well known name in the automobile community for whining. Good job, there is this thing called maintenance, you know what Toyota said was partially to blame for there rust issue. I totally understood what MK said and was stating that maybe if GM and Toyota worked together as they did in the NUMMI plant in CA they could make a decent truck for once! What did you forget that GM the one you just bashed shared a plant with Toyota pushing out products hand in hand. So please continue to tell me how bad are GM’s, please pa. I agree GM sucks but you may want to think of certain circumstances as in NUMMI before you bash a certain manufacture your in bed with the Pontiac Vibe is a Toyota Matrix for example. So since Toyota and GM shared a planet you already know what to expect, shocks fell of order what will happen this time, and you called me a MORON! Good job!
Jeremy just ask anonymous one question. Actually one word “Resale”. Also Jeremy I’m surprised about the Taurus. The reason I never bought one was all the recalls and tsb’s that car had. I’m pretty sure it’s close to the top in issues. Now back on subject. Another reason why they won’t buy SUV’s and American cars is how big they are. Most roads over there can’t take the width of an SUV. Try taking it into an alley and see how far you go. I mentioned before the gas prices was another. Anyone ever seen the pics over there as to why so many scooters???? Here’s the fact anonymous that gas was $4-5 a gallon here but guess what anonymous when the price per barrel went up and the price for gas followed guess what bright one? It went up over there too hence the reason for a more efficient vehicle. If you would ever get off your high horse and smell the roses at the foot level you may learn something. Sorry everyone I was wrong he won’t learn anything.
You are using your experience with GM to classify the rest of the trucks out their. But the Taurus was a good vehicle so what about F-series? What about Dodge? Nice face in the sentence, my daughter uses them in her emails. Jason where is that story about NUMMI where GM and Toyota used the same facility? You may want to share it with Jeremy. Jeremy you may want to read it and maybe you will see a issue. Toyota and GM where kinda one in the same. The GEO series, GM and Toyota working together. So please continue to tell me how bad GM is! There are more recent issues but I will not speak til I have the facts.
Resale is that the only thing you guys have going for you. Its a matter of economics, supply and demand. If you had 4 apples and had 6 people wanting them the price goes up. Toyota does not produce vehicles on the demand scale. They do this to keep the resale value high. Look at Harley Davidson, consumers complaining about their resale value so Harley is slowing production back to the waiting list. So why are SRT8 Challengers selling 8k over sticker, Shelby GT500’s 10k over, Raptors 5k over. Demand! If the domestics did that what would the contractor use to build your house, and would you be understanding when they said the price of your house went up 2% for the cost of his truck. I really don’t see the resale staying so good on the tundra’s and Toyota’s in general for the future. To many quailty issues, also there are A LOT of used Tundra’s here and they are not moving. Why buy a 1 year old Tundra when I can get a more powerful dodge, better equiped Ford for the same money and not worry about the frame in three years.
Here are the links:
http://www.fjcruiserforums.com.....ssues.html
http://www.consumeraffairs.com.....acoma.html
http://www.nummi.com
Since no one else is having any frame issues I posted the links. As for NUMMI and how bad GM is that’s funny. Well at least you know where to look for frame rust at????
Joshua – As of now, Toyota has best-in-class resale. While your point about production is well taken, I would encourage you to review resale value on the Tacoma. Not only is the Taco’s resale best-in-class, but the Tacoma is also the best-selling truck. The Tundra has high resale because 1) Toyota has a reputation for quality and 2) Ford, GM, and Chrysler push volume. If they didn’t try and “buy” so many sales, their resale values would likely be much higher. As for frame issues and quality concerns impacting the Tundra’s resale, only time will tell. As of now, it’s still on top, but of course that can change. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Joshua please look up the amount of recalls and TSB’s on the Taurus. It’s probably the top vehicle made with the most. I had both GM and Ford F-150. Which one had the most issues who could tell it was a race to see how many times you visit the dealership to fix the same thing. Now GM’s Customer Service had to ask if you own another GM vehicle. Will this make them fix the first vehicle? Now GM is in bed with China and Dodge is run by Fiat. Now you only have one left out of the Big 3. Who by the way wants concessions from the union. Now Joshua you are on Toyota’s case about anything please by all means explain this post you did back a couple of days ago on the thread 3 Reasons Why Toyota Is Ramping Up Production:
joshua Said in December 14th, 2009 @8:57 pm I just bought a 09 Rock Warrior and can wait, I figured with people making such big deals out of normal stuff I will never have to do anything. I already know how to get my first oil change, wait on the light. What is the plan for when the brakes wear out? Any idea about the tires. Someone need to start thinking about this now. I don
Nummi…Nummi? Lets see…Nummi. OH YEA the plant Toyota went into as a joint venture with GM and changed the manufacturing process thus improving the quality of ALL the vehicles being produced off the lines at Nummi. That Nummi.
Mickey out of any one you should know what it mean. I was giving all ya kudo’s, in over 20 + years of owning automobiles I have never seen anyone complain about oil sludge, and frame rust and win. Especially when oil sludge occurs when you do not follow the maintenance schedule, and Toyota said that the maintenance or lack of was a contributing factor for the rust. If you all keep it up you will win my heart, I will never have to do the required maintenance, and just say I had it completed at walmart and I don’t know where the receipt is (that’s what some did for the oil sludge). So come on when is someone going responsible for their own actions? This site will point fingers at other brands all day long and bring up issues of others, but really what is with the frame issue with three vehicle lines?? I don’t and won’t own one but let’s worry about what FORD CEO says. Really how about your frame, but why worry we will whine and get the warranty extended, let’s pick on others. April fools right!you all where in bed with GM and now that some brings it up, they seem to forget. Why did Ford stop the 500, because people loved the Tauras and asked for it back. Don’t be jealous that the Tauras is over 80 or was it 85 % american. You have never had anything good to say about any automobile company but Toyota but you continued to buy how many GM’s and Ford’s? We have all heard the stories more than we ever wanted too. Gm frame rusted out as someone said, I just found it funny Toyota’s is doing the same and what do you know they where in business literally with Toyota. Just the facts right! So bad mouth GM all you want, just remember GM and Toyota was one of the same at one point. It’s been fun, we will see about the frame issue in a couple years, its nature for a frame in the north to rust.
See case in point: “Nummi
Refocusing on the point of the article: It’s obvious that the American auto manufacturers are totally ignorant to think sales will increase by offering models that are not in demand. End of story.
That is what I was saying exactly TXTee although I got off the subject a little and to Mr. Anonymous, you have no clue what I was talking about, but Jeremy did and probably others as well.
I third that
I hear ya….. Anonymous will stay what he is “Anonymous”.
TXTee – Thanks for bringing it back! 🙂
Anytime – thanks for also clarifying the resale points.
Jason, I understand your point, since there are only 500 that have a good frame they are a collectors item. Really you lose a argument to start anther. If you could make enough trucks for every dealer to have more than 2 on the lot then I would be impressed. Toyota makes so few trucks to keep the resale value high but still have major issues with quality. Frame, floor mats (my favorite), crank shaft, transmissions, bed bounce, tailgates, paint, electronics, toyota can NOT produce quality vehicles on a small scale but Ford can produce mass volumes with a quality of Toyota if not better. So do you really want to go down this road?? Tundra is a Fade and will pass with time, weather you want them to or mot the frame will tell!
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Tell me how bad GM was again Jeremy and Mickey.
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Back pedal some more, chnage the subject.
Joshua must we list everything your manufacturer has an issue with? We can be here all day. Yes Joshua the whole 500 left. Get real guy. What gets me about you clowns is the fact your whole belief in an American product is thrown from the window when you discover your vehicle isn’t just made her in the good ole USA. Is Ford trying to get in bed with China now? GM is already in bed with them. The fact of the matter you stated you bought a 09 Rock Warrior. You tried go around that without stating the truth. You’re just a pissed off person who probably didn’t get his way so you found a website to get back at Tundra owners. What you really need is to go get a life and move on. Like I said before you have NO Creditability….. When you’re finish wiping your sniffling nose then we may listen to what you have to say.
Mickey, he was mimicking us about the owning a Yota.
“Japan market does not want big vehicles”
You might want to change that to something more like the Japanese market IS NOT ALLOWED to have big vehicles. Take away government taxes and restrictions and there are very few people on this earth who wouldn’t buy the largest, best performing, most comfortable vehicle they can afford.
Josh – LOL – if you really believe that Toyota can’t produce a quality vehicle, I pity you. Toyota, as a whole, is consistently at the top of all the major industry quality studies (see JD Power, Consumer Reports, Harbour Report, GQRS, Strategic Vision, etc.). If you want to argue the quality of a Tundra alongside the quality of a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge, the most recent J.D. Power initial quality study tied the Tundra, F150, and Ridgeline. The most recent JD Power dependability study (March 09′) also ranked the Tundra best in the segment. If you want to talk trash, you should be able to back it up. While I’m the first to agree that the Tundra has some issues (especially the 07′ model year), the overall quality of the product is excellent…there’s plenty of data that proves as much.
texmln – If I understand you, you’re saying that Japan’s government purposefully blocks big vehicles from being sold. I agree. I also agree with you that people tend to prefer bigger vehicles. If U.S. automakers want to have success in Japan’s market, they need to build very small cars that emphasize stop-and-go fuel economy (much like Suzuki, Toyota, and Honda).
Texmin where you’re wrong at is fuel cost. Japanese people don’t have that extra cash to spend on fuel and parking period. Ever tried driving down a side street or alleyway? Your SUV won’t fit.
a 7% import rate in that yr talk about pencil wipping someone if this was a golf match these actions would make an aig agent jealous!