Nissan Motor’s 2023 Sales Results of Automobiles in Japan

Nissan Motor’s automobile sales in Japan for the full year 2023 were 480,673 units, an increase of 6.9% from the previous year, going up for the first time in five years. Nissan’s domestic sales had been above 600,000 units until 2014, except in 2009, immediately after the Lehman shock, and in 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, but they fell below 600,000 units in 2015. After that, sales remained slightly below 600,000 units per year, exceeding the 600,000-unit mark in 2019 right before the coronavirus.

Restrictions on economic activity due to the coronavirus and subsequent vehicle production reduction due to semiconductor shortages have been the cause of the slump over the past four years, but vehicle supply restrictions eased somewhat in 2023. Looking at sales by registration type, standard vehicles (above 660cc) increased by 4.9% year-on-year for passenger vehicles and 21.1% for commercial vehicles. For light vehicles (660cc and below), both passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles exceeded the previous year, resulting in an overall increase of 6.9% year-on-year. On the other hand, when looking at each model, the increase in sales of some best-selling models offset the decrease in sales of other models. Among the best-selling SUVs, the fully remodeled X-Trail, which was launched in July 2022, increased sales by some 9,000 units to 27,129 units. Similarly, the MPV Serena, the fully remodeled version was launched in December 2022, which strongly supports Nissan’s domestic sales, increased by some 18,000 units to 75,673 units, and the light BEV Sakura went up 69.7% to 37,140 units. On the other hand, sales of the Kicks, Note and other core models did not perform well in 2023. Delivery times for these mainstay models are three months at most, so supply has almost normalized; however, in order to recover total sales to the 600,000-unit level, these models will need to make a comeback with some improvements.