Big reveals from Toyota, Subaru and Mazda signify renewed push from Japan’s car makers
The Japanese car industry is returning to its strengths at the Tokyo motor show starting on Wednesday (Oct 29) as it tries to fend off the growing threat globally from surging Chinese rivals.
Cars teased or pre-revealed for the event include the chunky retro flavoured Toyota Land Cruiser FJ, two new performance STi models from Subaru, and a sporty Mazda concept that majors on the brands’ traditional design strength.
China is fighting back with a significant reveal from BYD: the Racoo – the first Kei car sold in Japan made by a non-Japanese firm.
The Japanese are deeply connected to the UK automotive scene after Nissan, Toyota and Honda set up car plants here in the 1980s.
However, the surge in UK sales in September from the Chinese brands – that saw them take a 13.2% share – came largely at the expense of the Japanese, which slid three percentage points to 14.9%, according to figures from the SMMT.
The appeal of high-spec, high-value volume brands like BYD, MG and Chery-owned Omoda/Jaecoo is finding favour with customers who once saw the same appeal in Japanese models.
In his analysis of western European car sales across the first nine months, automotive researcher Matthias Schmidt found that the Japanese brands including Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki were losing the biggest share to the Chinese. “The Japanese are most exposed to exactly those markets Chinese OEMs are targeting most aggressively – Spain, Italy and the UK,” Schmidt said.
The Japanese originally won over buyers with higher manufacturing quality than the incumbents, but now the brands are seeing the same disruption from the Chinese, who are leveraging their lower cost base to bring new tech for less money.
“The Japanese came in with better cars. But they got to their level and didn’t go further,” David Green, head of strategy at Geely owned Lynk&Co told Autocar. “China comes in with better cars and they’ve done what Japan did to the UK car industry. They’re engineered better, better finished, with better materials, better layouts, better entertainment, better quality, and just more stuff.”
Japanese companies however still have a very strong brand presence in the UK, Europe and globally and are using the Tokyo show to strengthen that and demonstrate they can still impress on the technological front.
For example Toyota will showcase its premium brand Lexus with a wild six-wheel concept that reimagines its LS flagship limousine as a luxury minivan. The new LFA supercar could also be revealed. It will also reveal more details of its new flagship Century brand, expanded from the current range-topping luxury model.
Japan has traditionally been strong in sports cars and carmakers will look to play on that in Tokyo, with the Subaru STI machines, one electric, one petrol, returning the brand to its rally roots.
Also looking to leverage its once-formidable position as a tech-leader, Honda will show a new SUV to add to its range of O-Series electric cars.
Perhaps most relevant to the UK is the unveiling of a new Toyota Corolla concept, potentially showing the replacement of the model that’s built for Europe in Derby. No information has been released, but the pictures suggest it’ll be a plug-in model.
That would be a step in the right direction because right now the biggest weakness of the Japanese remains in plug-in hybrid and electric drivetrains. That’s exactly where the Chinese have directed most of their development and consequently are cleaning up in sales.
In the UK in September, the Japanese share of plug-in hybrids dropped from 20% last year to just 9.7% after the Chinese captured a whopping 36%, up from almost nothing in 2024, led by the BYD Seal U and Jaecoo 7.
In electric, meanwhile, the Chinese took a 18% share, compared to just 2.6% for the Japanese, down from almost 10% in September last year.
The Japanese remain dominant in the hybrid segment with 46% thanks to Toyota but that number is down from 57%, because of the Chinese, which grabbed an 18% share in the month after MG expanded its hybrid line-up to three models.
The likes of Toyota, Nissan and Mazda and Suzuki are busy releasing new electric models in the UK and wider Europe region but the delay is hitting the bottom line as the hit to CO2 prevents them from maximising more profitable combustion engine sales. Suzuki is a prime example of this, with sales in the UK down 31% in the year.
“Only those who are able to fulfil the European regulation can take advantage in terms of profit with other segments,” Hyundai global CEO Jose Munoz told investors in September. “A lot of brands…didn’t arrive in the market with the proper EV portfolio, they are not compliant and they are limited on how much they can grow.”
The Koreans have been faster to react to the legislation requiring plug-in vehicles and as a consequence have seen a smaller impact on their overall share, which in the UK has stayed at 11% this year despite the Chinese gains.
Some Japanese are wavering. Honda of course has already cancelled its plants in the UK and Turkey and is now assessing its next moves in the region. “For Europe, we have been struggling [for] several years,” chief financial officer Eiji Fujimura told investors in August. “We still do need to revisit internally what we want to do with the European market.”
One possibility of revival could rest on a new small electric car that was teased at Goodwood Festival of Speed this year and will be revealed further at the Tokyo show.
The Japanese share should again with the launch of the delayed Nissan Leaf electric SUV, built in Sunderland and therefore likely to qualify for the full £3750 Electric Car Grant. Toyota meanwhile is expanding its electric line-up with the new CH-R+ and Urban Cruiser SUVs, the latter shared with Suzuki.
What the country’s brands need however is to recapture some of their old buzz around future technology. The Tokyo show, back again after two years, could be just the springboard they need to turn people’s heads away from Chinese newcomers.
Source: Autocar
