30 October 2015

Mature Market Vehicle Production : Japan


Japan is seen as an industrial miracle of post war years. They set about systematically improving their products and searching for markets to sell in. They cooperated in a way the west would think was uncompetitive. It worked and Japan became a leading car making country.

As volumes reached numbers that could lead to a consumer backlash overseas, they set up factories to avoid that. If nations restricted car imports, they built factories there too, to get a vice like grip on those markets. That is why you will notice a drop in Japanese production from the middle of the chart, overseas plants opening. The big fall in commercial vehicle numbers will be because of production being moved to Asian nations.


Year Vehicle Car CV % CV

1960 481,000 165,000 316,000 65.7%

1965 1,875,000 696,000 1,179,000 62.9%

1970 5,289,000 3,179,000 2,110,000 39.9%

1975 6,942,000 4,568,000 2,374,000 34.2%

1980 11,043,000 7,038,000 4,005,000 36.3%

1985 12,271,000 7,647,000 4,624,000 37.7%

1990 13,487,000 9,948,000 3,539,000 26.2%

1995 10,196,000 7,611,000 2,585,000 25.4%

2000 10,144,000 8,363,000 1,781,000 17.6%

2005 10,800,000 9,017,000 1,783,000 16.5%

2010 9,626,000 8,307,000 1,319,000 13.7%

2014 9,774,000 8,277,000 1,497,000 15.3%

Summary: The careful and diligent way Japan approached production and export was learnt from the West, but not done in the West. Despite high costs associated with car assembly in Japan, efficiencies and a government policy of keeping the Yen undervalued has allowed a large number of vehicles to continue to be made there.

Data source: JAMA.

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