Kei Cars will represent 38% of the Japanese market in 2024 compared to 40% in 2023
- Kei-cars are small, lightweight cars (Keijidosha means "light cars") marketed in Japan, with dimensions and engine capacities imposed by Japanese regulations. Today, they must not exceed 3.40 m in length, 1.48 m in width and 2.00 m in height and the engine capacity of their internal combustion engine must not exceed 670 cm3. These cars are slightly shorter than European A-segment cars and slightly longer than Chinese A-segment cars. These cars, which are distinguished by their yellow license plates, benefit from advantages in terms of taxes and insurance.
- This category of cars has occupied nearly 40% of the Japanese market for the past ten years, after having occupied between 30% and 35% the previous ten years. It is mainly represented by the Daihatsu (Toyota group) and Suzuki brands. But in 2024, the scandal of falsified tests at Daihatsu disrupted the Kei-car market, since the sales of this carmaker collapsed during the first half of the year, part of the customer of this brand having turned to Suzuki (+ 60,000 sales), another part of the customer of this brand having postponed its purchase.
- As a result, the Japanese Kei-car market has declined by 167,000 units in 2024 (but is expected to recover in 2025, thanks to the postponement of purchases by Daihatsu customers), which reduces the market share of these vehicles from 40% in 2023 to 38% in 2024 , the lowest market share observed since 2017.
- The Nissan Sakura, which launched the all-electric Kei-car market in 2022, failed to developped on the market, dropping from 37,140 sales in 2023 to 22,926 in 2024.