Industry News: Why President Trump's Dream Of Selling More U.S. Cars In Japan Isn't Going To Happen

[William Maley]

Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced that he had reached an agreement with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to open trade talks between the two nations. Previously, the president had threatened a 25 percent tariff on cars to reduce imports and encourage more production in the U.S. The two agree that the "sanctions on auto exports won’t be applied while the talks take place."

A key topic of talks will likely be giving better access to U.S. cars to be sold in Japan, something President Trump has complained about before. Data from Japan’s auto industry associations said only 0.3 percent of the 3.2 million vehicles sold in the country this year when American brands. Contrast this to 40 percent of the U.S.' market share being made up by Japanese automakers according to Bloomberg.

But there arises a problem with Trump's ambition, Japanese buyers aren't interested. Japan has argued time and time again that the reason American automakers don't do some well is the perception of that American cars are " bulky and inefficient". There is one American brand that bucks this trend, Jeep. According to Bloomberg, Jeep sold more than 7,000 vehicles in the first eight months of this year - beating all other U.S. brands combined.

Source: Bloomberg (Subscription Required)

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[David]

America excluding JEEP, just does not understand how small this country is. The roads, space, etc. do NOT support America where everything is supersized. I totally do not see much growth ever in Japan for majority of US auto brands.

[ykX]

26 minutes ago, dfelt said:

America excluding JEEP, just does not understand how small this country is. The roads, space, etc. do NOT support America where everything is supersized. I totally do not see much growth ever in Japan for majority of US auto brands.

Agreed.  From what I have been reading most of the people use public transportation day to day anyway and space and size is in premium.  Even in Europe, which I assume might be slightly better for space than Japan can't really use anything that is sold in US except maybe Jeep Renegade, which pretty much was designed for Europe and actually quite popular there,

[David]

46 minutes ago, ykX said:

Agreed.  From what I have been reading most of the people use public transportation day to day anyway and space and size is in premium.  Even in Europe, which I assume might be slightly better for space than Japan can't really use anything that is sold in US except maybe Jeep Renegade, which pretty much was designed for Europe and actually quite popular there,

Having gone to college at Kobe University and staying with a family. I was allowed to use their son's Ninja bike as he never rode it. Japan is very small and tight on space and their Buss, taxi and train system is the best in the world. 98% of the time you do not need an auto to get around unless you are rich. Auto's are mostly for the rural areas, not the inner city where the bulk of the citizens live. 

I rode the lovely bike they had bought for their spoiled son on the weekends in the mountains where there is no speed limits and huge mirrors on all the corners, you just carve up using the whole road.

[Suaviloquent]

With American brands cars going extinct left and right and the majority of US assembled import cars being for import consumption.

 

Literally the best they can probably do is probably nothing. You see Japan having the capability to build their own carrier commercial aircraft or fighter jets, and Japan doesn’t complain that American makes like Boeing and Lockheed do so well there...

 

There’s an example specialization that works handily.

[riviera74]

Japan's auto market is hardly growing all that much AND most US cars are not made for Japan.  This agreement will not change those facts on the ground at all.

[Suaviloquent]

Japan’s having a population implosion and their car market is in the process of cratering.

 

none of their automakers can even survive on the JDM, and what is also true is that Japanese cars haven’t changed in decades. They’re all really tiny boxs that are fancy golfcarts. Part of why so many Indian cars in the modern Indian car market also use a tin pot style formula for cars.

 

 

[smk4565]

Jeep has really strong brand image and the styling really works too.  This makes it a desirable brand all over the world.  And they have 3 SUVs on the smaller side, the Cherokee is the size of an Equinox and they have 2 smaller than that.

Japanese don't buy American because a lot of American cars aren't that good.  The class leading American cars are full size pickups and SUVs and that stuff won't sell in Japan or Europe either.  If American brands had best in class small sedans and small and compact crossovers I bet they'd sell over seas.

[ykX]

16 hours ago, dfelt said:

Having gone to college at Kobe University and staying with a family. I was allowed to use their son's Ninja bike as he never rode it. Japan is very small and tight on space and their Buss, taxi and train system is the best in the world. 98% of the time you do not need an auto to get around unless you are rich. Auto's are mostly for the rural areas, not the inner city where the bulk of the citizens live. 

I rode the lovely bike they had bought for their spoiled son on the weekends in the mountains where there is no speed limits and huge mirrors on all the corners, you just carve up using the whole road.

Sounds like a really cool experience

[daves87rs]

Japan is just not built for cars......at least not any more....

[Drew Dowdell]

On ‎9‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 4:21 AM, daves87rs said:

Japan is just not built for cars......at least not any more....

Certainly not American cars.  A Cruze is a large mid-size over there.  I can't imagine trying to pilot something like a Continental or Navigator.  You'd have to be hyper-rich to afford those cars in Japan. 

[daves87rs]

35 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Certainly not American cars.  A Cruze is a large mid-size over there.  I can't imagine trying to pilot something like a Continental or Navigator.  You'd have to be hyper-rich to afford those cars in Japan. 

 

Yep, cost being another major reason as well. And their population finally is growing again....not going to leave much space for cars....

[David]

Crazy prices for Cadillac ATS in Japan used.

https://www.japanesecartrade.com/make-model/cadillac-236-ats-24096.html