Rising demand for electric cars is driving a shift in Japan’s import market. Japan’s newly registered foreign manufacturers imported 238,000 vehicles in the 2025 fiscal year, up 3.4% year-on-year, according to data released by the Japan Automobile Importers Association (Jaia) . This is the first increase in seven years since 2018. The growth in sales of Chinese car brands has made a big contribution, the report said.
BYD auto on display at the Japan Mobile Mobility Show 2025 in Tokyo, Japan, last October.
Imported all-electric vehicles performed particularly well in 2025, when 30,513 were registered, surpassing the 30,000 mark for the first time, Jaia said earlier this year. Foreign-branded all-electric cars had a 12.6% market share in Japan, exceeding 10% for the second year in a row.
The figures come as demand for electric vehicles in Japan is rising. Carmakers sold 26,969 electric vehicles in Japan, up 80 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest published figures for the first quarter.
The rise in Japanese sales has been driven by a number of factors. In March, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and industry (METI) increased subsidies for electric vehicles by 400,000 yen to 1.3 million yen, boosting consumption of electric vehicles. At the same time, the global energy crisis caused by the conflict in the Middle East has pushed up oil prices, leading to increased consumer interest in electric vehicles in Japan.
And from the specific imported car brands, Mercedes-benz, BMW, Porsche, Land Rover and other traditional well-known car brand registration has a certain degree of decline. But Chinese brand BYD stands out in the list, up 104.2% year-on-year. Notably, BYD registered 1,271 new cars in Japan in the first quarter alone, up 110.1 per cent from a year earlier.
At present, China’s electric vehicles are gaining popularity in the international market. BYD received the most orders of any manufacturer at the Bangkok Auto Show earlier this month, overtaking Japan’s Toyota for the first time, Japan Today reported Monday. Meanwhile, Japan’s Honda Motor Co. said it will launch a new all-electric“INSIGHT” car, Kyodo news agency reported. The model is based on a pure electric SUV produced by a joint venture in China and imported to Japan after being converted to Japanese specifications. Reported that, although Honda has previously announced that the adjustment strategy will focus on pure electric vehicles, but because of the lack of electric models in Japan, so through the“Reverse import” model to expand the product line.