Sales in Japan of 660 cc passenger mini-cars jumped to a record high in the last financial year, signalling structural change in a market where family size is shrinking and buyers are shifting to smaller cars. Buyers and owners pay less tax for mini-vehicles, a category known as "kei" in Japan for cars that follow certain size and other criteria, than for bigger vehicles.
Automakers sold a record 1.57 million passenger mini-cars in the year ended on March 31, up 23 percent from the previous year, industry data showed on Monday. Combined sales of mini-trucks, mini-vans and passenger mini-cars were 1.97 million vehicles, up 16.8 percent from a year ago and the second highest on record. That accounted for nearly 40 percent of the 5.21 million automobiles sold in the country in the year.
Non-mini sales also rose, by 5.7 percent year-on-year helped by green car subsidies, but the share of minis in total sales extended a growth trend over the past two decades. Mini-vehicles must meet size criteria of 3.4 metres or less in length, 2.0 metres or shorter in height and 1.48 metres or narrower in width. The small size of mini-vehicles, which played a central role in Japan's motorization in the late 1950s to 1970s, means they have little appeal outside of Japan, industry experts say.