30 October 2015

Mature Market Vehicle Production : Japan


Japan is seen as an industrial miracle of post war years. They set about systematically improving their products and searching for markets to sell in. They cooperated in a way the west would think was uncompetitive. It worked and Japan became a leading car making country.

As volumes reached numbers that could lead to a consumer backlash overseas, they set up factories to avoid that. If nations restricted car imports, they built factories there too, to get a vice like grip on those markets. That is why you will notice a drop in Japanese production from the middle of the chart, overseas plants opening. The big fall in commercial vehicle numbers will be because of production being moved to Asian nations.


Year Vehicle Car CV % CV

1960 481,000 165,000 316,000 65.7%

1965 1,875,000 696,000 1,179,000 62.9%

1970 5,289,000 3,179,000 2,110,000 39.9%

1975 6,942,000 4,568,000 2,374,000 34.2%

1980 11,043,000 7,038,000 4,005,000 36.3%

1985 12,271,000 7,647,000 4,624,000 37.7%

1990 13,487,000 9,948,000 3,539,000 26.2%

1995 10,196,000 7,611,000 2,585,000 25.4%

2000 10,144,000 8,363,000 1,781,000 17.6%

2005 10,800,000 9,017,000 1,783,000 16.5%

2010 9,626,000 8,307,000 1,319,000 13.7%

2014 9,774,000 8,277,000 1,497,000 15.3%

Summary: The careful and diligent way Japan approached production and export was learnt from the West, but not done in the West. Despite high costs associated with car assembly in Japan, efficiencies and a government policy of keeping the Yen undervalued has allowed a large number of vehicles to continue to be made there.

Data source: JAMA.

29 October 2015

Car Sales France By Brand : 2010-14

The Nissan Qashqai has sold well in France

The car market in France has been subdues for the last few years. Seeing as the big three French car makers rely so heavily on local support, it has hit them. Added to that they have collectively slipped just below 50% of total sales. Renault had 40% of sales in 1980, 30% in 1994 and now under 20%. That has been a common pattern for many top selling makes in Europe.

VW sales held up well in a difficult market. They must have some very good diesels to do that. Renault's Dacia established itself as a popular brand at this time. Toyota held its sales volume but was outdone by its rival Nissan who overtook them. US duo Ford and Opel didn't do nearly so well.


Rk Make 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

1 Renault 497,820 455,705 343,345 337,608 353,906

2 Peugeot 400,663 369,761 305,440 289,587 305,015

3 Citroën 328,146 323,076 266,430 238,317 231,131

4 VW 146,538 163,584 154,434 141,427 139,554

5 Dacia 104,641 88,980 80,790 89,844 102,519

6 Ford 114,810 115,357 92,468 76,470 75,090

7 Nissan 54,084 71,767 69,692 62,983 68,072

8 Toyota 65,390 67,320 68,007 71,693 66,775

9 Opel 94,877 94,102 71,666 59,620 61,246

10 Audi 50,936 58,970 61,754 59,147 56,395

11 Mercedes 45,612 43,545 47,567 46,966 49,149

12 BMW 46,074 46,305 48,045 46,742 47,682

13 Fiat 72,717 57,326 43,554 47,683 45,738

14 Kia 24,056 27,961 33,018 33,503 28,186

15 Seat 30,645 33,268 24,180 22,039 21,090

16 Škoda 18,533 21,185 22,464 19,341 20,412

17 MINI 18,007 21,702 21,483 19,099 18,278

18 Hyundai 18,785 20,204 28,733 25,738 17,165

19 Suzuki 22,070 19,233 16,026 15,485 15,000

20 Volvo 11,841 15,192 13,396 11,024 12,459

21 Alfa Romeo 13,033 16,232 10,323 8,047 7,608

22 Honda 11,251 8,793 8,406 8,846 7,091

23 Land Rover 2,735 4,317 7,770 6,716 6,794

24 Lancia 3,368 4,000 5,248 4,812 6,105

25 Mazda 10,232 6,509 5,107 6,272 6,062

26 Chevrolet 21,247 23,708 24,739 21,518 4,185

27 smart 6,408 6,810 5,441 5,267 4,149

28 Mitsubishi 3,514 4,386 3,639 3,448 3,496

29 Lexus 1,921 2,872 2,456 2,960 3,486

30 Porsche 2,073 2,734 3,336 2,813 3,449

31 Chrysler 2,914 2,968 3,243 1,329 2,783

32 Bollore
399 1,543 658 1,170

33 Subaru 1,146 831 971 928 731

34 Jaguar 1,126 1,001 897 879 715

35 Infiniti 267 445 441 197 669

36 Maserati 162 107 98 172 429

37 Ssangyong 402 560 290 209 344

38 Lada 346 405 248


39 Daihatsu 1,083 217 352


40 Saab 574 377




Others 1,622 2,015 1,720 1,069 1,785


Total 2,251,669 2,204,229 1,898,760 1,790,456 1,795,913

The series started at: 1974-79.
The previous article in the series was 2005-09.

Data source: CCFA.