Honda N-Box Japan’s Top-Selling Car for Fourth Consecutive Year

Firmly in First

The Honda N-Box microvan was Japan’s top-selling passenger car by brand in 2025, the fourth consecutive year it has earned the honor, according to an announcement by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association. Despite its appearance, the N-Box boasts a spacious interior, and it has helped maintain the popularity of cars in the lightweight kei category. Two years have passed since Honda revamped the model in fall 2023, but the car maintained strong sales at 201,354 units, dipping 2.4% year on year. Toyota’s Yaris was in second place with sales of 166,533 units (up 0.2%), followed by Suzuki’s Spacia in third with 165,589 (down 0.1%).

Daihatsu suffered slumping sales in 2024 due to a major testing scandal, but its vehicles showed a strong recovery in 2025, with Tanto sales rising 32.9% to put the model in fifth, while the Move soared into sixth on a 191.3% increase.

By contrast, Nissan was absent from the top 10, with the Note dropping out as the carmaker struggles to right its operations.

Created by Nippon.com based on data from Japan Automobile Dealers Association and Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association. Asterisks indicate kei category cars.

Japan’s New Car Sales Rise by 3.3% in 2025 | Nippon.com

Car sales rose in Japan in 2025, but still remain below the pre-pandemic level.

https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02659/

Data Sources

• Data on sales of standard vehicles (Japanese) from Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
• Data on sales of kei category cars (Japanese) from Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner image: The N-Box Custom Black Style, launched in December 2025. © Honda.)