ausrutherford Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Yup, among the 10 best selling cars in 2011 for the Japan market, the Corolla was the only traditional C-segment entry. All of the others were B-segment, mini-MPV, MPV, or dedicated hybrid products with the Prius holding the #1 position. Crazy thing is...the Honda Fit is really the best selling car in Japan. The Prius is right now inflated by the Prius a (our v). If you take out a sales, then the Prius falls to second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzcat Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) (NEW POST HERE) Sorry for the thread mine guys but I didn't want to start a new topic just to ask a question that relates to this thread. Why are Ford not selling the Fiesta and Focus (let alone Ka) in Japan, yet they are selling the Mustang and Explorer - something doesn't make sense there to me - if they were taking market opportunities seriously I would have thought the Explorer would be the last car they'd take to a small car dominated market! I'll try to answer this without some of the hyperbole seem earlier in this old thread... There are two main reason why Ford sells big American cars in Japan but not small compact European cars: Exchange rate, and volume. The strong yen means Ford will lose money if they sell Fiesta and Focus imported from Europe (or Taiwan/Thailand/South Africa etc... doesn't matter). And unlike VW, Ford doesn't have the kind of premium image that VW commands in Japan so it can't compensate for the strong yen with higher sticker price. On the other hand, the US$ is weak so selling US made cars in Japan makes sense. Which brings me to the next point... Ford has a low volume sells footprint so if you are only going to sell 2,000 cars a year, would you concentrate your efforts on Fiesta with slim profit margin or on Mustang GT or Explorer, which is an emotional purchase, prices be damned (most of the time)? Let's not forget that Ford tried the volume approach in Japan several times with various level of success. But ultimately, the car culture in Japan is very unique (most cars sold are actually 660cc kei cars) so unless you commit to radical localization, you are always just going to nibble at the edge. The more sensible option to focus on the luxury end of the market (which is what Ford does with Mustang and Explorer). Edited April 2, 2012 by bzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elkarlo Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I have lived in Japan for the last 3 years. Good luck. Japan is a dying auto market, with a lot of odd ball sizes, and rules. Which is prolly damaging to the auto industry in general. Anyhow, be nice to see more than a single dealership per province. But i don't see any profits here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.