Sure, simply 18. Toyota offered 18 electrical automobiles in its dwelling market of Japan final month. And that features its luxurious Lexus model.
Why did Toyota promote simply 18 EVs in Japan in August?
Toyota, together with Lexus, offered simply over 17,000 electrical automobiles globally in August. However, in Japan, Toyota’s dwelling market, EV gross sales plummeted, with simply 18 models offered.
The opposite 17,038 EVs had been offered in abroad markets, like Europe, China, and North America. Via the primary 9 months of 2025, Toyota and Lexus have offered 117,031 battery electrical automobiles (BEVs) worldwide and are on tempo to high the roughly 140,000 offered all through 2024.
In Japan, the story has been totally different to this point this yr. Toyota (together with Lexus) offered 469 EVs by means of August, a far cry from the two,038 it offered all through your entire yr of 2024.
To be honest, it’s not simply Toyota that’s struggling to promote electrical automobiles in Japan. The nation has did not maintain tempo with China and, in lots of respects, the remainder of the trade, on account of an absence of presidency help and restricted choices in comparison with gas-powered hybrids.
Even BYD, which has seen explosive development in most markets, has struggled to achieve traction in Japan. Since launching its first automobile in January 2023, BYD has offered simply 5,300 automobiles by means of June of this yr.
Based on a brand new Bloomberg report, BYD is now providing reductions of as much as ¥1 million ($6,700) on its automobiles. Together with authorities subsidies, the reductions minimize automobile costs by as much as 50%.
Toyota’s hybrid gross sales, then again, are up almost 10% this yr in Japan, with over 603,600 hybrids offered. Outdoors of Japan, Toyota’s hybrid gross sales are up 14% with over 2.3 million fashions offered by means of August.
Electrical automobiles are anticipated to account for under about 3.4% of latest automobile gross sales in Japan this yr, in accordance with BloombergNEF, however additional development is anticipated.
A number of automakers, together with Honda and BYD, are launching extra reasonably priced EVs. BYD plans to launch its first electrical kei automobile that can compete with the Nissan Sakura, Japan’s top-selling EV. It’ll additionally go up in opposition to the Honda N-ONE e, which launched on September 12, beginning at simply ¥2.7 million ($18,300).
