Here is another myth that won’t die, as hard as we might be trying to debunk it: “Japan is a closed market for cars. They do everything to keep foreign cars out. Those Nips are unfair, and it’s time to do something about it.”
It’s baloney. Paul Niedermeyer debunked the propaganda, and said: “Want to import cars to Japan? It’s one of the easiest countries to do so.“ I did another story and showed, for those with reading comprehension problems, a picture of Japanese im- and exports. But the story won’t die. Ok, let’s try again to put it to rest.
Sales of imported cars in Japan jumped 34.7 percent on the year to 119,053 vehicles in the first half of fiscal 2010. That according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Japan Automobile Importers Association, and brought to us by The Nikkei [sub]. In September alone, sales of imported cars in Japan jumped 45.1 percent to 30,004 vehicles.
Then why the myth that the Japanese block imports? Well, they import the wrong cars, as far as the U.S. is concerned. Volkswagen has for long been the biggest import brand in Japan, and their sales jumped 37.7 percent to 25,399. Next in line is Nissan which imported and sold 16,869 vehicles, a huge jump from just 167 cars a year earlier. Germany’s BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi were the next highest sellers. American cars didn’t even rate a mention. With Japanese car makers exporting whole factories abroad and importing their own cars from low cost, soft currency markets, the import number is expected to rise considerably.
There are no import restrictions for cars in Japan. The tariff is zero. It’s just that nobody seems to want an American car. It’s uncool. Or “dasai” as they say in Japan. My father-in-law in Tokyo gets a new BMW every year, and he sure would have room for something much bigger in his six car garage. But a Cadillac? I think he would die of embarrassment instead. Even members of the Japanese Mafia, the Yakuza, shun a Cadillac. Their conveyance of choice is a black S-Class Mercedes with tinted windows. Show up with a Camaro, and you’ll lose a finger.
I guess it’s easier to point fingers and blame non-existent import restrictions than to admit that you are dasai.
Japan as a whole is ‘dasai’
+1 Japan is a mediocre nation. This is coming from an anime fan and 280z and under lover. The only parts of Japan worth visiting are the Ryukyu islands in summer. The rest is just like any other city or mountain range
Japan is dorky, but that’s kind of cool in certain ways (violin-playing robots?). I agree that postwar development has despoiled the country. Most of it is a truly ugly and depressing sea of concrete cluttered with industrial detritus and just plain old junk.
And more flashing electric/neon signs than anywhere else. At least in Tokyo.
…and in comes the haterade…
Ouch. Hurt feelings?
Japan doesn’t like Cadillacs? Resorting to racist attacks for the lack of enthusiasm for American brands are we?…
In fairness, Japan doesn’t like Lexus’ either, they prefer German brands like Mercedes and BMW. And Cadillacs are behind European and Japanese brands in the US as well…
GM small cars are basically Korean, and they are sold as other brands in Japan already, the American market are dominated by light-trucks. Small-Asian-vehicles don’t sell in American markets like large-American-vehicles sell in the Asia. The same reason why Suzuki fails in the US market is why Chevy fails in the Japanese markets, because they don’t build transportation that meets domestic needs. What is so hard to understand?
Why US cars are uncool?
Chevy Malibu isn’t exactly cool. Nor the Fusion. the only cool car I can think of is the Charger. then you have the more expensive Corvettes, Mustang GT500 and Dodge Viper. I see why the Japanese would buy Mercs, Audis and Bimmers, but a Volkswagen? why?
edit for th009
I’m giving my american perspective, that I don’t even think american cars are cool. I doubt most Volkswagen’s sold are GTI’s. I don’t see why a Japanese person would prefer a Volkswagen to a Japanese brand.
@stationwagon, if you think that a Charger would be more “cool” to the Japanese buyers than, say, a Golf GTI, then you neither understand the kind of cars the rest of the world (outside of North America) likes, nor the space/parking constraints car owners in Japan have to deal with.
@stationwagon, anecdotal observation of foreign cars in Japan indicates to me that a large proportion of the VWs are premium models (such as Golf GTIs). I have no data to back that up, though.
But why would a Japanese buyer buy a Golf rather than a Corolla (hatchback)? Depending on your priorities, one or the other could be objectively better. But one thing with a Golf is that is by no means common: you won’t see an identical car driving by every other block.
And in spite of the European cars’ success in Japan, they are still a niche market.
I grew up in the Dominican thinking the American cars were junk, at 7 years old I knew this. This summer I was surprised to find my family thinking Cadillacs and Chargers were awesome, Tahoes too. They are pretty rare down there.
I feel the Japanese are acting condescendingly toward American cars. Though I’m only starting to see reasons to go American, I think its pretty cool to have something different.
I’ve heard this ridiculous rumor from the UAW crowd forever.
There’s a certain segment of the population that always thinks if there’s success, someone must have cheated. The Japanese built a manufacturing empire by building higher quality cars. They didn’t “cheat” the US or manipulate anything. They gave consumers a CHOICE, and American consumers wanted quality instead of guilt, which is all the Big 3 were making for the last several decades.
OUCH. That truth really hurt! Good job.
The first time I ever heard this myth was in a national evening news story, in which GM was decrying the difficulty of selling Cavaliers in Japan because of the difficulties of breaking into the closed Japanese market. All I could think was, why would anyone in Japan ever want to spend extra money on a car that wasn’t 1/2 as good as a homegrown?
Multiple reasons.
1) American cars are not designed to maximize small space efficiencies – a necessity in Japan. VW and the European marques are inarguably preferable on this count.
2) Japanese generally care about appearance and details and not about performance. European interiors and design are superior in this department. American car designers emphasize numbers – price, cylinders, liters, hp, etc. and wonder why anyone would care about the quality of the switchgear. Those that want basic transportation have a litany of JDM cars specifically designed for them – why would they buy something cheap designed for North America?
3) Japanese have far fewer cars per capita. Cars are somewhat of a luxury and most families have only one. Thus, they aren’t afraid of paying VW prices for that one purchase. Also, if a VW sludges after 5 years a Japanese buyer wouldn’t know because the car has already been sold to the Philippines and replaced.
4) At the high end, the Japanese are fairly status conscious. Whatever the merits of their respective vehicles, Benz, BMW, and Audi have way more cachet than any American brand. Caddys used to be popular with gangsters as status symbols, but apparently even they don’t believe it anymore.
American cars are suitable for big spaces, cheap gas, and easy credit. There are few (and getting fewer) places on earth where this situation still prevails. Japan isn’t one of them.
That “small narrow roads” story is another myth. If an S-Class Benz or a Toyota Land Cruiser will fit, then a full sized car would fit just as well. Fewer cars? Japan has more than 500 cars per thousand pop, just like any other developed country. It’s just the U.S. that has 800 cars per thousand, more cars than people with drivers licenses. That is changing as we speak. Yes, Japanese are very picky about quality. And no, American cars simply aren’t cool there. Even I wouldn’t dare to show up with an American car. The neighbors would talk.
The roads (at least in Tokyo area) indeed aren’t particularly narrow. But most parking spaces are definitely not very big!
The roads aren’t necessarily narrow, but your parking space at your house is. The Benz and Land Cruiser are status symbols for the wealthy – they can afford a big parking spot.
And yes the US has an astonishingly high per capita vehicle ownership and vehicle ownership is a necessity in most places and Americans spend a lot of time at freeway speeds in their cars. Hence the “big and cheap” philosophy that drove Detroit for so many years.
Hakata-san pretty well nails it. Those that want basic transportation have a litany of JDM cars specifically designed for them – why would they buy something cheap designed for North America?
Besides, the really economy cars are the Kei class with a 63 HP max. Smaller than anything made by the US makers.
That pretty much leaves the luxury car market for the US makers to play in. Japanese streets are narrow, and a car with the wheel on the wrong side is a hassle. Gas is expensive and American cars generally don’t do as well on city mileage. Power isn’t a big deal in a country where the expressway speed limit is 40 mph or so.
His point about the interior features is important too. Japanese generally care about appearance and details and not about performance. European interiors and design are superior in this department. You spend a lot of time in your car in Japan, not moving much. You look around at the interior a lot and you notice the design quality or lack there of and the comfort of the seats. Extra roominess isn’t that big an advantage in a country where the average guy weighs 125 pounds or so, and the women are even smaller.
The only American maker that I saw making ANY sales in Japan was Ford. They had broken into the market with Jaguars and Volvos (whoops, never mind those now :-) ) and were selling a few European Fords, but more as novelty cars than anything else. I saw more Mini’s than Fords but way more Fords than GM products (Hummers in the Tokyo area excluded)
@Lokki, Expressway speed limit in Japan is generally 100 km/h (62 mph) with a 50 km/h minimum.
But I do agree that high engine output is not a big deal in Japan. Exterior and interior design will play a much bigger part, as you say.
I whole heartedly agree with Mr. Hakata.
Mr. Bertel Schmitt in his response above about “small roads myth” clearly demonstrates that if he ever drove in Japan, he never left the realm of Tokyo with its multi-lane (k)osoku-doro. Actually, a friend of mine living in Tokyo in an above-average “manshion”, had to recently sell his S-Class as his neighbours got pissed of him as his merc’s snout would not fit inside the “standard” garage and he was partly blocking the walkway.
Mr. Shmitt’s whole point about wild increase in VW sales is suddenly worth very little once you recall where the exchange rate is now. Euros managed to shift a few more cars (and compared with total sales numbers it is next to nothing) only through relatively lower prices.
Still a foreign vehicle in Japan is an (expensive!) wacko and a way of descreet show-off/standing out from the crowd.
american companies barely understand the wants and desires of american buyers
what makes you think they know ANYTHING about Japanese buyers who are the most fastidious and discriminating on the planet?
you might look at the failure of Microsoft to market the Xbox 360 in Japan… a company as talented as Microsoft failed, what hope does Government Motors have?
conquering American is easy for GM/Ford/Chrysler and they screwed up there… they have no hope in Japan.
Interesting that you should mention Microsoft. I consider them to be the “GM of software companies.”
Land the Marines, they learned baseball last time, this time they learn dasai is a foreign word.
I’ve heard this ridiculous rumor from the UAW crowd forever.
Yep, and the CAW still trots out this nonsense judging by how quickly it comes up in conversation
with the average autoworker. Not to disparage autoworkers on either side of the border, many of
my friends are autoworkers and they are all good folks. However, unless you do some research and
find out for yourself ‘the truth about cars’, all you have to go on is these myths and rumours. Many
don’t realise that Toyota actually imported Cavaliers into Japan and sold them as Toyota Cavaliers
(I saw a photo of one on TTAC once). I would assume they did this to counter those that were claiming
that Japan was restricting imports of D3 cars. The simple truth is that the Japanese didn’t want them
because they knew their domestic vehicles were better anyway. This myth is one of many that the
UAW/CAW propoganda machine churns out to deceive both their members and the general public.
The Toyota Cavalier was a direct result of the economic meetings in the early ’90’s between the first George Bush and his Japanese counterpart at the time. These are the meetings where Senior famously barfed into one of the Japanese diplomat’s laps. Ugh.
The Toyota Cavaliers were the top of the line Chevy Cavaliers, built with special equipment to comply with Japanese regulations. Apparently they came down the same line as the rest of the Cavaliers, but were shuttled off to a special area for more intense “quality control”. IIRC, they were all equipped the same way, with the 2.3 Quad 4 and automatics and power everything, at least as many power options as GM stuck in the J-bodies back in the day.
They were then shipped off to Japan, and put in showrooms along side JDM Toyota models. As I understand it, what really put off the potential Japanese customers was not so much the assembly quality or space efficiency of the car, but the drivetrain. If the majority of Japanese cars are ‘kei’ class, (under 660 cc), the 2.3 liter motors of the Cavalier would have been rather pricey to own in Japan, between fuel consumption and taxes. Apparently the average consumer did not see the value proposition. And the lowly Cavalier gets another black eye.
FWIW, there was a brisk trade among the post-1995 J-car fanatics to obtain JDM Toyota Cavalier parts and pieces. I haven’t really kept up with that subculture in a while now, but I have to imagine that these would be quite the conversation starters. Also, some of the JDM spec RHD Cavaliers seemed to have ended up in Britain, but I’m not sure of their origins.
Maybe if we slaughtered whales and dolphins then we too could as cool Japan.
Another pointless cheap shot. Perhaps if you quit eating burgers you could build quality cars.
See the analogy?
Stick to cars not environmental platitudes please.
The other problem the “Toyota” Cavaliers had was that they were sharing space with Toyotas. Gen 2 Cavs looked nicer than their ancestors, but the panel fit etc. wasn’t up to Toyota’s level. So, would you want to get a higher-taxed car, that doesn’t look as good?
The biggest problem with selling in Japan isn’t quality per se (Fiat sells in Japan for cripes sake, and older BMC minis and 1200s were quite popular for a while). Nor is it size, Cadillac used to be the “top” status symbol for Yakuza and other vulgar types (dentists for example), before Mercedes displaced it. Nor is it size (there has been a club for customized Caprices and Astro Vans).
The big issue is fragmentation. You can sell almost any kind of car to someone in Japan, and you can charge a pretty penny for it too. But, unless it catches on, your volume is likely to be small. Breaking into Japan is easy enough, cracking the mass market would be nigh-impossible (and considering how cutthroat that part of the market is, would you want to try?) Making your fortune in small volumes of unique cars is a job for an entreprenuer, not a multinational corporation (think GM etc really want to turn their brand over to a vulgar salesman?
What amazes me is that GM and Ford never really tried to sell their Australian muscle-cars in Japan (wheel’s on the right side and everything). I had a student (an industrial engineer naturally) who had a serious love of muscle cars (and was getting by on a souped up Nissan, back home). I was amazed he’s never even heard of Holman. Now granted, I bet they’d only sell 1-2 thousand per year, but they’d probably sell it every year (and the margin would be good). Add in a couple of “lifestyle” (wagons, vans) vehicles and you could sell enough to make it worthwhile (of course, you’d probably have to get 3-4 divisions on board to do it..)
FIAT isn’t exactly a success in Japan.
The whole notion that the Japanese are biased against American cars is absurd – they don’t buy them because they are inferior in every possible way. Even the high-powered American cars are simply poorly built in design and quality. They don’t buy those cars for the same reason that Europeans and I don’t buy American cars: why should they? What’s to like in an American car? Why would I pick an inferior item over a superior one?
American cars are built very cheaply – material-wise. Long-term reliability is poor. Design and aesthetics is dysfunctional and short-sighted – focused on immediate trends. Service and follow-through from the manufacturer is really bad (e.g. GM ignored thousands of customers with OnStar once they switched to digital from analog). Advertising is deceptive and focused to sell an idea rather then the product (e.g. Ford-tough, machosism, patriotism, etc).
To be fair, the FCC hosed OnStar on the switchover from analog to digital spectrum. The FCC delayed, and then hurriedly sold the spectrum off, leaving OnStar with little choice to abandon folks with the analog equipment. According to GM, there was no upgrade path for the analog receivers due to the integration with the other subsystems in the cars and the amount of time to engineer systems to work together.
I wlll take issue with OnStar in this regard: While the subsystems attached to each particular car model is unique in it’s capabilities and not all models share them, some contingency planning should have been done to allow some kind of upgrade path for older OnStar systems. I have a 2009 Pontiac with the Gen 8 OnStar system, with the introduction of the 9th generation of OnStar, there are some great features (like remote start from your iPhone, etc.) that I won’t be able to access unless I get a new car. I have yet to confirm that I’m locked out of these new features, but if so, it’s a letdown.
Of course, the existing services are still valuable to me, but with as cheap and pervasive as electronics and firmware are these days, why not provide an upgrade path, at least for those of us who are interested?
Your little rant exactly describes how I feel about most Japanese cars.
Except that my list also includes the term “overrated.”
Cheap plastic everywhere? Check. (Even their “luxury” offerings are just German imitations.)
Poor reliability? Check. (Look around, there are fewer old Japanese cars on the road than you think.)
Immediate trends? Check. (Nobody re-styles faster than the Japanese.)
Service? Well, ok, here I wouldn’t know. I buy American and haven’t had issues.
Deception? Lexus = luxury. QED.
Opinions are like… well, let’s just say everybody has one. Neither of our posts prove a damned thing.
Good info Geozinger, thanks for that.
Here is a link to an article and pic:
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/top-nine-whacked-out-automotive-rebadges/toyotacavalierad/
If the Japanese want to miss out on the CTS and Zeta platform, then that’s their loss.
Well, and GM’s I guess…
But, seriously the CTS is a good car, and how can this be “dasai” while a tinted-up Merc is cool?
119 thousand plus cars and you wonder why we think Japan is a hard nut (intentional) nut to crack. come one TTAC you are smarter than that. How many cars are imported to US…? Give me a break, after all this time you would think, that atleast 500k would be the norm. the myth here is TTAC believing there is no myth..
The myth is the idea that it’s impossible to sell American-made cars there. It isn’t. What’s impossible is to sell American-made cars that cater to American sensibilities in Japan.
Let’s face it… the US market is peculiar. They want bigger cars with bigger engines than the rest of the world. A compact car that starts at 2 liters for the base model and only goes up from there isn’t going to cut it in Japan. A Japan where you can still buy a Corolla, Civic or Lancer with engines 1.5 liters or smaller… when “domestic” compacts start at 2 liters. A Japan where the short life-cycle of cars (at 3 to 5 year intervals thanks to strict registration requirements… and no, I haven’t seen ex-Japanese VWs here in the Philippines) drives model development and turn-over much faster than in the US.
It’s telling that the best-selling variant of the Honda Fit, the 1.3 liter, isn’t offered in the US. How the huge success of the Scion xB led to Toyota developing a bigger one with a Camry engine just for the American market… when both original xB owners and buyers in Japan were perfectly fine with the 1.5.
Customer priorities are just wildly different in the US from the rest of the world.
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To cry foul about not being able to sell in Japan is a denial of the basic reasons why US manufacturers have a hard time selling domestically-developed models elsewhere in the world. People outside the US just don’t “get” US cars.
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The Japanese love Mercs for the same reason Chinese and other Asians love Mercs. A Benz is not just a big car. It is the ultimate personification of power and luxury. it’s a culture thing.
Bertel Schmitt: That “small narrow roads” story is another myth.
Bertel – I don’t know where the hell you lived or how much actual driving you do in Japan, but there are a ton of roads in Japan, in Tokyo, in most towns where an S class WON’T fit. Then there are roads where they will fit, just, if everything else pulls to the side like they do for trucks and buses.
I drove there for 7 years. When I walked, I used to make a game of counting the colors of car paint on the steel guards on the telephone poles beside the road.
If you totally live the rich kid existence you can avoid the small streets or take your other car- or the train, but for day to day life for the majority of the middle class there’s a street not much wider than an American sidewalk somewhere in your commute.
I also go with the “status of the size of your parking space” point posted above.
The OP is covering up the truth. The truth is that imports are subject to ridiculous spot inspections that often require costly repairs. Domestic cars in Japan are supposed to get the same inspections but flaws are overlooked and every car gets waved through.
Japan just simply does not play fair to protect its home market.
Oh? is that why secondhand Japanese market Japanese branded cars are such a big export item?
ALL Japanese market cars are subject to ridiculously restrictive and expensive inspections that sometimes require expensive repairs. Which is why so many three-year old Japanese cars are available for ridiculously low prices on the global market.
If an American market car cannot pass because it has wrong colored turn signals (the rest of the word require amber turn signals… as opposed to the US market, which allows red), then that’s hardly Japan’s fault, is it?
I have owned a 1981 Mazda 626, 1987 Mazda 626, 1992 Mazda MX-6 and 2007 Mazda 6, all good cars. I see shy Japanese cars sell.