Toyota Strengthens Grip on Japan EV, Hybrid Market

TOKYO – Japanese automakers reported mixed results for hybrid-electric- and electric-vehicle sales in 2013.

Toyota again was the leading manufacturer on sales of 1,280,235 units, up 5% year-over-year and good for about 83% of the country’s hybrid and EV market. All but 1,096 were hybrids.

Excluding trucks, Toyota now has 24 hybrid models on the market.

Two models, the Prius c, sold in Japan as the Aqua, and the Prius together accounted for 50% of Toyota’s total, with 317,890 and 315,510 deliveries, respectively.

Second-ranked Honda reported a 19% decline in hybrid deliveries to 187,851 units, including 526 Accord plug-in hybrids.

Mitsubishi, new to the market, sold 20,026 Outlander Plug-In Hybrids. The PHEV, which went on sale in January 2013, would have registered higher sales had the automaker not experienced a 3-month production stoppage due to problems with the vehicle’s lithium-ion battery.

Elsewhere, Subaru manufacturer Fuji Heavy Industries delivered 8,403 XV Hybrids while Mazda, which introduced the Axela Hybrid in November, sold 3,017 units.

In the all-electric segment, Nissan again led all comers by selling more than 47,000 Leafs in major markets, up 80% year-over-year. The Leaf was followed by Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV series, which registered a 58% decline to 4,832 units. The Mitsubishi total includes Peugeot and Citroen-badged versions of the car.

Toyota sold 1,096 RAV4 EVs while Honda delivered 569 battery-powered Fit minicars, according to evobsession.com, a specialty blog.

In South Korea, affiliates Hyundai and Kia again were the market leaders in 2013. Hyundai sales rose 5% to 39,328 units while Kia registered a 14% gain to 27,324, almost all hybrids.

Among new market entries, Renault Samsung and GM Korea launched the battery-powered SM3 Z.E and Spark electric cars last fall. No sales data was available.