Suzuki is becoming a top Japan importer with made-in-India cars
The Japanese carmaker brought 4,780 vehicles into Japan last month, up a dramatic 230-fold from a year earlier, overtaking Germany's Mercedes-Benz, according to data from the Japan Automobile Importers Association on Friday. Suzuki also clinched the top stop in April.
Although Honda is also known as a longtime importer of its own cars into Japan, Suzuki's feat is notable because it's one of the smaller manufacturers in terms of total global output, well behind market leader Toyota. Automobile imports have become a hot topic again with U.S. President Donald Trump deploying the threat of tariffs to pressure Japan to import more cars made in America.
"Japanese consumers don't particularly care whether vehicles are produced in Thailand, India or Japan if they want a particular car,' said Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at automotive consultancy Carnorama. He argues that General Motors, Ford and other US American carmakers aren't able to gain traction in Japan because they don't offer products such as smaller kei cars that appeal to local buyers.
The Jimny Nomad, an extended five-door version of Suzuki's popular Jimny model, has been a runaway success. Priced from ¥2.65 million ($18,300), the vehicle attracted about 50,000 pre-orders before it went on sale in April, even though Suzuki had set an initial monthly sales target of 1,200 units. That forced the carmaker to halt orders after just four days due to overwhelming demand.
Suzuki plans to ramp up production of the Jimny Nomad in India from July, which will probably boost import numbers even more. Suzuki also began importing another India-produced compact SUV, the Fronx, in October. Suzuki has a long history of manufacturing and selling cars and motorcycles in India, where were labor and production costs are still low.
Suzuki predicts that India's car market will reach 20 million units in annual sales by 2047. It's targeting a 50% market share by Maruti Suzuki India, the Japanese automaker's subsidiary, by 2030.
Honda has also seen success with its India-produced compact SUV, the WR-V, which was introduced in March of last year at an affordable starting price of around ¥2.1 million. Honda's imported registrations surged about 22-fold year-on-year to 45,107 vehicles last year. The carmaker was also the top importer into Japan during the first three months of 2025.
For the first half, Honda ranked second in imports with approximately 22,000 vehicles, trailing Mercedes-Benz's 25,016 units. Suzuki was third, while Nissan was in ninth place with its Thailand-produced Kicks crossover.
Jeep, part of European carmaker Stellantis, performed relatively well with more than 4,000 units sold from January to June, outpacing imports by GM and Ford.
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