Japan sold 381,756 new vehicles in October 2026, down 3.4% on October 2025's 395,189. The figure combines 249,180 registered vehicles counted by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, up 0.5% (JADA, 2 November 2026), with 132,576 kei minivehicles counted by Zenkeijikyo, down 10.0% (Zenkeijikyo, 2 November 2026). These are the preliminary prints; both bodies may revise by a few units when the final tables follow.
Updated 2 November 2026.
A fall after the fiscal-half rush
October is the first month of the second half of Japan's April to March fiscal year, and it follows September's push to close the first half. October was 12% below September's 433,683; a year earlier the same step down was 8% (428,216 to 395,189). The year-on-year comparison is the better guide: down 3.4%, and it is entirely a kei story.
| Japan, October 2026 | Units | Year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Registered passenger cars (JADA) | 216,757 | +1.1% |
| Registered trucks and buses (JADA) | 32,423 | -3.0% |
| Kei passenger cars (Zenkeijikyo) | 102,056 | -10.4% |
| Kei trucks (Zenkeijikyo) | 30,520 | -8.7% |
| All new vehicles | 381,756 | -3.4% |
Kei fell, registered cars held
Registered passenger cars rose 1.1% to 216,757 while kei passenger cars dropped 10.4% to 102,056, so on a passenger-car-only basis Japan sold 318,813 cars, down 2.9%. Inside the kei class the makers moved apart. Daihatsu sold 47,576, down 17.7%, and Suzuki 43,498, down 6.9%, which puts Daihatsu back in front as the largest kei maker for the month after Suzuki led in September. Honda sold 19,764 kei vehicles, down 2.8%, and Nissan 11,172, down 5.2%. BYD recorded 607 kei sales, its biggest month in the class so far (Zenkeijikyo, October sheet).
Ten months: 3,927,177 vehicles
The official January to October total is 3,927,177 new vehicles, up 1.7%: 2,531,836 registered (up 3.3%) plus 1,395,341 kei (down 1.0%). Kei is 35.5% of the year so far. The year-to-date growth has slowed from 2.3% at the end of September to 1.7% because October fell against a strong comparison month. The sum of the ten monthly figures on the live dashboard equals the official cumulative.
What it means
Japan stays the slowest-moving of the seven markets AutoNergy tracks, and October shows where the slack is: kei cars, not registered cars. JADA's final tables of 6 November confirm the totals and add the ten-month picture: Toyota leads the brand table with 1,249,939 vehicles (31.8%), Honda's N-Box is the year's best seller with 172,779, and battery-electric cars are 4.3% of registered passenger cars (95,614 of 2,204,125, kei excluded). In October alone Toyota's Yaris, 15,157, edged ahead of the N-Box, 14,832. Open the live Japan dashboard for the monthly series, and the kei car explainer for the size limits that define the class.