Official vehicle sales numbers in Japan, for people who like to track sales numbers

As a frequenter to AutoSpies, it's easy to get quickly tired of many members discrediting Lexus based on the myth that "Lexus does poorly in their homeland", "Japanese people are smarter than buying a premium Toyota", etc., only because the actual sales numbers in Japan are not readily available to them.

Well, here it is, people. The official vehicle sales numbers in Japan, broken down by month and complete with year-to-date numbers. Click on the month and year to read. It's that easy. Lexus (????) is on the 5th row, while the German big three are spelled out in English. The four columns that matter the most are on the right, which are, respectively:
1. sales of the month
2. sales of the same month last year
3. sales year-to-date
4. sales year-to-date last year

For the record, here are the total sales volume of Lexus and the German big three in 2007:
1. Mercedes-Benz 49,713
2. BMW 49,014
3. Lexus 31,097
4. Audi 15,018

And here are the YTD sales for the 2008 so far:
1. Mercedes-Benz 5,560
2. Lexus 5,552
3. BMW 4,568
4. Audi 1,840

As you can see, Lexus is hardly a failure in Japan and is in fact gaining more momentum by the month. So now that we have this information readily available, we can put the "myth" to rest, shall we?
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r15mohd - 4/1/2008 10:30:14 AM

0 Boost

uhh...assuring your home country succeeds before outsider??? sounds like perfect business to me.

home economy first, then let the foreign compnaies get a bite. the USA was once like this, and now they wonder why they struggle...

STJ88 - 4/1/2008 9:57:17 AM

-6 Boost

It probably ain't more than 4%.

w209w114 - 4/1/2008 11:04:01 AM

+6 Boost

XeroKool

You couldnt have gotten it off a link written in English??? Im assuming either you know great Japanese or hope none of us do.

w209w114 - 4/1/2008 12:07:46 PM

+3 Boost

I know Google translator, but it would have been move convenient for the rest of us users who dont know Japanese to get the already translated link.

This is only 2 month's worth out of the year for 08. Overall that doesnt change the fact that Lexus sales have been slower than expected. The brand is expected to sell 40,000 vehicles this year, short of the originally projected 50,000 to 60,000.

The figures at Toyota once again seem to fly over the heads of the arrogant CEOs :)

Agent009 - 4/1/2008 11:48:14 AM

+6 Boost

The data is only Jan-Feb so it is a bit early to tell.

According to this data Lexus is down from 7,487 in 2007 to 5,552 in 2008.

JUGNU - 4/1/2008 2:20:09 PM

-6 Boost

I always knew that Lexus is not doing that bad how the haters are making it to be.

That are impressive numbers and for the current year it looks like Lexus is very close to the first place in sales.

"And here are the YTD sales for the 2008 so far:
1. Mercedes-Benz 5,560
2. Lexus 5,552"

Only 8 cars behind MB so far. Wow.

btw could anyone please help me in posting/submitting new article. I am trying to post an article about new Infiniti for 3 days now and it's still not posted. I think i am doing something incorrect. Thanks.

JUGNU

ChicaneShooter - 4/2/2008 5:11:56 AM

+1 Boost

are you following the instructions closely? it took me a few attempts before finally succeeding. the mods also take a little while to review, before posting occurs.

(writing your OWN piece is also a little easier than transferring a link from an online article.)

ChicaneShooter - 4/2/2008 6:17:38 AM

0 Boost

how many years did it take Lexus to overtake the german big 3 in america?

i predict it will only take 1/2 to 1/3 as long to repeat this in japan.