Toyota Strengthens Grip on Japan EV, Hybrid Market

The article is discussing hybrid and EV sales, and is not counting traditional car sales. The 1,280,235 is in addition to those. The 1,096 not hybrids would be the BEVs and maybe FCEVs Toyota sold.

Trucks could cover the minivans and SUVs. Maybe the Prius V, or any other hybrid that could be called a crossover. I think we would have heard of a hybrid pick-up or equivalent by now.

 

i would say toyota dominates hybrid sales in the u.s. as well. but it's hard to believe they are doing anything with ev's anywhere.

 

They might be selling the FCV-adv, the one built on a Highlander chassis. Ten of the eQ's built were kept in Japan. They also might have some EV commercial vehicles in the home market.

 

okay, but how does that compare to leaf sales?

 

Wow, they (Japan) buy a lot of Prius cars. I'll bet Prius is optimized for Japan's driving conditions.

Obviously we (US) like small and midsize sedans (trunk) the most for cars. Seems to me sedan (trunked) hybrids will be outsold 10x by conventional equivalent due to the few extra thousand $ and 20% ish reduced trunk space.

I'm planning to take a bunch of stuff down in a couple weeks like drum hardware case, few pieces of luggage, ice chest, etc ... to see how much can go into Accord Hybrid trunk. Just looking and curious. The trunk looks a bit small to me. ... and no folding rear seat, eeek.

 

Japan has also had had hybrid incentives available for longer than in the US. They were available up to last year and still might be available at this time. Which might be hurting plug-in sales there.

 

I would say that was a poorly written article. It gives toyota + Lexus electrified sales (hv + phev + bev) world wide and makes it seem like its japan. Here is toyota's press release with breakdown by market

About Toyota | Our News | Worldwide Sales of Toyota Hybrids Top 6 Million Units

Toyota outsold GM, VW in 2013; sees rising demand in US, China in 2014 | Dallas Morning News

That gives toyota electrified sales of 679.1K out of 2,295K cars in japan or about 30% hybrids and plug-ins. That seems like a much more reasonable number, and is much higher than the US figure.

 

thanks. poorly written is an understatement! i'm still confused by the title of the article though, to me, it means 'compared to the competition'. but they don't show year over year %, just 83% for 2013.

 

From the toyota press release world wide hybrid sales from toyota and lexus were up 5% from 1.219 Million in 2012 to 1.279 in 2013. The lower numbers in the press release did not include the rav4 or eq bevs.

Toyota has a 83% market share of hybrids and plug-ins in japan. This should not be suprising, as ford, gm, and tesla do not participate in the japanese market. It does mean honda and nissan are not competitive.

 

Was the Civic battery issue as damaging to Honda's hybrid reputation in Japan as it was here? That would put a damper on its hybrid sales.
The Fit, including the new hybrid, was the number one selling car in Japan year. The Prius was second, and 6 of the other 8 in the top ten were kei cars.

Honda's Fit remains best-selling car | The Japan Times

 

Don't know about the impact of civic hybrid's battery, but the fit has been number 1 for a couple of months in 2014 in Japan. The numbers I gave, and I believe this article is based on is 2013, where the aqua (prius c) was number 1, the prius number 2 in Japan. Its hard to tell how the fit will do over the whole year, as honda is filling the pre-orders now. The new redesigned fit hybrid went on sales in September in Japan. I have no idea how well it will do over the entire year versus the aqua.

Here in america we won't know how good or bad the fit hybrid would have sold, as honda does not plan on selling it here.

 

The article I linked appears to be on a monthly sales. November I'm guessing. The Fit hybrid became available before the standard model. Whatever the its 2013 numbers were, they were mostly reflecting the old model.

The curious aspect of the Fit and Aqua tale to me is will North America get the latest tweaks in the Prius C? The Fit hybrid seized the most fuel efficient title on the Japanese tests when it came out. This year, Toyota refreshed the Aqua and got that back.

Supposedly, we will get a hybrid sedan and/or SUV based on the platform. I thought Honda would have been better off just bringing over the Fit hybrid instead of doing the Insight2 originally. Honda US might just be waiting to debut the new hybrid drivetrain in the Civic before releasing anything definite about smaller hybrids for here.

 

You are right, I reread, its november 2013, but that doesn't mean the other article including all of 2013 are not correct. Toyota dominated the japanese "electrified" market with 83% market share. Honda with the new hybrid system can gain market share, or it may just be that the car is new.

If its aerodynamics or electronics the US should get those improvements. If its software to do well on the japanese test, then we won't on the prius c, as they likely would not help US tested or real world fuel economy. Because of US safety regulations the prius c and aqua will be slightly different although they are essentially the same. Option choices in Japan always have more choices with toyota.

The fit hybrid won't make it to north america according to honda.

They likely are waiting for the new north american plant to pump out general fits before they release a hybrid on the platform. You want to work out the kinks of a new line before adding a unique model. I have not been impressed with honda's north american hybrid strategy. The insight was executed badly. I hope they do better on this round.

 

They say now, but I'm hoping they will back away from it. Otherwise, they might be heading for another marketing stumble with hybrids. Honda has rumored a Fit sedan and SUV/crossover hybrid instead of the Fit hybrid itself.

In order to not infringe on the Civic and CR-V, these new models won't be much larger than the Fit. While Americans have a preference for sedans, this preference isn't as strong among B-class buyers. The sedan will likely have the same compromise of trunk space as the Civic hybrid, but be smaller, and be in a segment where being a hatchback might be the advantage.

The SUV will give us the option of versatility that a Fit hybrid gives, but at the expense of lower fuel economy from the taller body. It will probably cost more too. Its only saving grace is the possibility of the 3 motor AWD hybrid option, but I'm not holding out much hope for that.

Meanwhile, the Fit itself is a successful model for Honda. Sales have been slacking off, but that happens with models near the end of their generation cycle. I'm sure the new model will boost that when available. The Prius c is doing well. why would Honda think they can't take it on here when the Fit hybrid is doing well against the Aqua in Japan.

 

... um ... ahem .... ahem ...
Tesla delivering 500 Model S EVs a week; now showing off in Japan, elsewhere

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They are being displayed not actively sold. I would be suprised if you needed to take off your shoes to count the number of teslas sold in Japan. I'm sure eventually they will get to thousands, but nothing compared to the 680 thousand hybrids and plug-ins toyota sold in japan last year. In fact the total number of imports into japan from non-japanese car companies set a record of 280,000 last year, with american car companies only getting 13 thousand, I doubt that tesla sold much of that 13 thousand. The tiny percent of imported foreign name plates in Japan speaks to how closed the market realy is with many soft barriers. The germans getting most of the tiny import market, which may give tesla a shot at a sliver of the performance luxury segment that the japanese companies don't serve well. . The lowest listed bev through 1/2014 is the imev mini truck at just under 600 units. If telsa had sold even 500 units in japan they would have a press release. We know Musk gave Akido Toyoda a tesla as a gift, so there is at least some in country.

Way back in 2010, Mr. Musk thought japan would be a major market
Tesla Motors Plans Japan Push - WSJ.com
Times have changed. China now looks like the market maybe as big or bigger than North America. Japan looks much worse for plug-ins than predicted even a few years ago.