Passenger Cars

PASSENGER CARS Overall Trends nounced this year. 1 Introduction The ranking of passenger vehicle production by manu- Despite an economic downturn in some emerging facturer stayed the same as in 2015, with the Hyundai countries due to drops in crude oil prices or poorer ex- Group’s South Korean production, Toyota Motor Corpo- change rates, the strong economic recovery in North ration’s Japanese production, and the Volkswagen Group’s America and Western Europe, as well as the increase German production occupying the top three ranks (Table pace of market expansion in China due to measures to 2). They were followed by BMW’s German production, stimulate demand, have resulted in an overall growth of Daimler’s German Production and Mazda Motor Corpora- the 2016 global automobile market compared to the pre- tion’s Japanese production, maintaining the same ranking vious year. In North America, sales continued to decline as last year until Rank 6. The considerable expansion of in the passenger vehicle category, but exhibited strong GM’s American production, along with the Japanese pro- growth in the light truck category, which includes SUVs. duction of Nissan Motor Company and Honda Motor Co., In terms of total demand, continued growth in Canada Ltd. growing to double-digit figures, were also notable, stood in contrast to a slowdown and leveling off of but were contrasted by considerable drops in the Japa- growth in the United States. In China, a significant rise nese production of Suzuki Motor Corporation and Mit- in sales of Chinese brand vehicles spurred the growth of subishi Motors. the market as a whole. 2. 2. State of Japanese Vehicle Production, Exports, In the 2016 Japanese automobile market, the effects of and Sales the April 2015 increase of the mini-vehicle tax rate con- 2. 2. 1. Production tinued to make itself felt with a decline in sales of mini- The significant drop in demand caused by the mini- vehicles declined, but this was countered by higher sales Table 1 Passenger car production in leading manufacturing countries. of ordinary passenger cars stemming from the introduc- Compared to tion of new models, resulting in a very small overall mar- 2016 2015 previous year (%) ket growth. Japan 7 873 886 7 830 722 100.6 U.S. 3 934 357 *4 162 808 94.5 2 Production, Sales, and Exports Canada 802 057 888 565 90.3 2. 1. Production in Leading Manufacturing Countries EU 16 786 957 *16 324 423 102.8 Germany 5 746 808 *5 708 138 100.7 The production of passenger cars by major countries UK 1 722 698 1 587 677 108.5 around the world was 72.11 million vehicles, an increase France 1 626 000 *1 555 000 104.6 of 5.1% over the previous year. China, with a growth rate Italy 713 182 663 139 107.5 Spain 2 354 117 2 218 980 106.1 of 15.5% representing a major expansion of approximate- South Korea 3 859 991 4 135 108 93.3 ly 3.3 million additional vehicles, led global production China 24 420 744 *21 143 351 115.5 (Table 1). In contrast, production in Brazil shrunk by India 42 008 *19 346 217.1 11.9% over the previous year, representing a decrease of Brazil 1 778 464 *2 017 639 88.1 World total 72 105 435 68 604 137 105.1 240,000 vehicles. In North America, where the rise in de- Note 1 ) Preliminary figures announced by the International Orga- mand is centered around the light truck category, which nization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) Note 2 ) * denote revised values encompasses SUVs, the previous year’s drop in produc- Note 3 ) The 27 EU countries. Note 4 ) The number of vehicles for the U.S. and Canada excludes tion in the passenger vehicle category remained pro- SUVs and other models considered trucks in those countries. Copyright© 2017 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. All rights reserved Table 2 Passenger car production according to manufacturer and country. Ranking Compared to Manufacturers Country 2016 (Units) 2015 (Units) (Previous year) previous year (%) 1（ 1 ） Hyundai group South Korea 2 891 032 3 183 455 90.8 2（ 2 ） Toyota Japan 2 847 367 2 827 349 100.7 3（ 3 ） VW group Germany 2 325 447 2 327 541 99.9 4（ 4 ） BMW Germany 1 190 935 1 153 283 103.3 5（ 5 ） Daimler Germany 1 066 249 991 313 107.6 6（ 6 ） Mazda Japan 967 510 955 961 101.2 7（12） GM U.S. 864 779 725 535 119.2 8（ 9 ） Nissan Japan 835 058 755 742 110.5 9（ 7 ） PSA France 829 419 843 349 98.3 10（11） Honda Japan 820 226 730 493 112.3 11（ 8 ） VW Spain Spain 745 863 775 893 96.1 12（14） Subaru Japan 727 741 709 749 102.5 13（15） Honda America U.S. 686 378 678 828 101.1 14（17） Toyota U.S. 676 970 629 088 107.6 15（10） Ford Germany Germany 670 376 743 401 90.2 16（18） FCA Italy 657 995 622 222 105.7 17（13） Suzuki Japan 580 389 712 070 81.5 18（19） GM Daewoo South Korea 569 394 600 961 94.7 19（20） Daihatsu Japan 562 323 530 784 105.9 20（16） Mitsubishi Japan 555 018 635 441 87.3 Source: Automobile manufacturers association in each country and automaker public relations material Table 3 Passenger car production in Japan. Table 5 Passenger car sales in Japan. 2016 2015 Compared to previous year (%) 2016 2015 Compared to previous year (%) Ordinary cars 4 999 566 4 744 471 105.4 Ordinary cars 1 490 216 1 354 541 110.0 % Compact cars 1 610 486 1 555 548 103.5 Compact cars 1 311 275 1 349 944 97.1 % 4-wheeled mini-vehicles 1 263 834 1 530 703 82.6 4-wheeled mini-vehicles 1 344 968 1 511 404 89.0 % Total 7 873 886 7 830 722 100 .6 Total 4 146 459 4 215 889 98.4 % Source: Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) Source: Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) The classification criteria of the sales statistics are based on the license plate number. Table 4 Number of passenger cars exported from Japan according to destination. 2016 2015 Compared to previous year (%) number of passenger cars exported in 2016 up slightly to North America 1 868 638 1 719 428 108.7 4.12 million vehicles, representing103.7% of the figures Europe 803 978 717 980 112.0 Oceania 346 978 344 344 100.8 for the previous year (Table 4). Higher exports to North Asia 434 897 382 586 113.7 America, Europe, and Asia̶primarily China̶were the Middle-East 382 065 504 159 75.8 Central America 135 832 132 446 102.6 main drivers of the overall increase. The strong demand South America 86 317 104 377 82.7 for light trucks, including SUVs, in North America was Africa 57 424 61 898 92.8 Others 2 367 2 785 85.0 accompanied by an increase in exports from Japan. Total 4 118 496 3 970 003 103.7 2. 2. 3. Sales Source: Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) Sales of passenger cars in Japan dropped slightly to 4.146 million vehicles, or 98.4% of the previous year (Ta- vehicle tax increase in April 2015 continued to affect pas- ble 5). Still affected by the tax increase, mini-vehicles senger vehicle production in Japan throughout 2016, re- sales continued to decline, falling to 89% of the previous sulting in a major decline in production, which fell to year, and sales of compact cars also decreased somewhat, 82.6% of the previous year (Table 3). At the same time, to 97.1% of the previous year. However, strong sales of production of ordinary and compact cars expanded new ordinary passenger car models launched in the lat- slightly, and at 7.87 million vehicles, the production and ter half of 2015 led to a growth of 110% compared to the registration total for mini-vehicles essentially remained previous year, resulting in only a small decline in overall the same. sales. 2. 2. 2. Exports 2. 2. 4. Used vehicle sales The key role played by the strong yen pushed the The number of used vehicles sold in 2016 was virtually Copyright© 2017 Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. All rights reserved unchanged at 99.8% of the previous year, and has re- countries, by the stalled economic recovery in Brazil mained at the 5.6 million vehicle level since 2012 (Table causing a continued decline in sales, which plummeted to 6). Matching the trend observed for new vehicles, sales 79% of the previous year (Table 8). In contrast, the tax of ordinary passenger cars rose by 3.6%, while those of rebate policy to stimulate sales in effect in China since compact cars and mini-vehicles dropped by 2.4% and October 2015 has proven effective, boosting sales to 115% 1.3%, respectively. of the previous year. European countries exhibited ex- 2. 2. 5. Imported vehicle sales panded sales across the board. In North America, sales Total sales of imported vehicles in 2016 rose to 104.6% in the passenger vehicle category, at 91 to 93% of the of the previous year, an increase of 328,000 vehicles (Ta- previous year, have continued to decrease, but significant ble 7). Sales continued to rise for most of the top ranking growth in the light truck category, which includes SUVs, importers, particularly Mercedes-Benz and BMW, but has brought sales to record levels in both countries for declined for Volkswagen and Audi, which is part of the the combined passenger vehicle and light truck catego- Volkswagen Group.

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