Japan sold 433,683 new vehicles in September 2026, up 1.3% on September 2025's 428,216. The figure combines 271,900 registered vehicles counted by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, up 2.5% (JADA, 1 October 2026), with 161,783 kei minivehicles counted by Zenkeijikyo, down 0.6% (Zenkeijikyo, 1 October 2026). Jiji Press carried the same JADA total and split the same day (Jiji via Adnkronos).
Updated 2 October 2026.
The busiest month since March
September is the last month of the first half of Japan's April to March fiscal year, and dealers push registrations to close the half. That shows in the numbers: September was 41% above August's 307,375 and the biggest month since March's 490,640. The growth, though, was modest. A 1.3% gain is in line with the gentle pace Japan has held all year, not a breakout.
| Japan, September 2026 | Units | Year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Registered passenger cars (JADA) | 236,293 | +3.0% |
| Registered trucks and buses (JADA) | 35,607 | -0.8% |
| Kei passenger cars (Zenkeijikyo) | 124,450 | -2.7% |
| Kei trucks (Zenkeijikyo) | 37,333 | +7.0% |
| All new vehicles | 433,683 | +1.3% |
Two markets again moving at different speeds
As in August, full-size registered cars grew faster than kei. Registered passenger cars rose 3.0% while kei passenger cars fell 2.7%, so on a passenger-car-only basis Japan sold 360,743 cars, up just 0.9%. Kei trucks, up 7.0%, kept the kei total close to flat.
Inside the kei class the makers diverged sharply. Suzuki stayed the largest kei seller with 51,792 units, down 4.9%, ahead of Daihatsu on 47,748, up 1.0%. Honda's kei sales fell 21.3% to 25,505, while Nissan's rose 36.1% to 20,814. BYD sold 442 kei vehicles, its biggest month in the class so far. Among registered brands Toyota sold 120,559, up 2.5%, and Suzuki's registered cars rose 14.8% to 17,321 (JADA brand list via Jiji).
Nine months: 3,545,421 vehicles
The official January to September total is 3,545,421 new vehicles, up 2.3%: 2,282,656 registered (up 3.6%) plus 1,262,765 kei (up 0.1%). Kei is 35.6% of the year so far, close to its usual third of the market. For the fiscal half, April to September, Nikkei reports 2,292,064 vehicles, up 5%, with registered vehicles up 10% and kei down 2% (Nikkei, 1 October 2026), which reconciles exactly with the two bodies' cumulative prints.
Zenkeijikyo also revised August's kei count by one unit, to 103,711, which puts August's combined market at 307,375. The live dashboard carries the revision.
What it means
Japan is the slowest-moving of the seven markets AutoNergy tracks and September confirms it: steady low single-digit growth, carried by registered cars, with kei flat. The fiscal-half bump is seasonal, not a change in trend. The Japanese September electric split is not yet published, so this post does not estimate one. Japan's battery-electric share has stayed in low single digits all year, against Germany's record 32.4% and China's record 65.2% in August. Open the live Japan dashboard for the monthly series, and the kei car explainer for why the class exists.