The Japanese car industry is returning to its strengths at the Tokyo motor show (starting on 29 October) as it tries to fend off the growing threat globally from surging Chinese rivals.
Cars teased or pre-revealed for the event include the chunky, retro-flavoured Toyota Land Cruiser FJ, two new STi performance models from Subaru and a sporty Mazda concept that majors on the brand’s traditional design strength.
China is fighting back with a significant unveiling from BYD: the Racoo, the first kei car sold in Japan made by a non-Japanese firm.
The Japanese are deeply connected to the UK automotive scene after Nissan, Toyota and Honda set up car plants here in the 1980s.
However, the surge in UK sales in September from the Chinese brands – which earned them a 13.2% share – came largely at the expense of the Japanese, who slid three percentage points to 14.9%, according to figures from the SMMT.
The appeal of high-spec, high-value volume brands like BYD, MG and Chery-owned Omoda and Jaecoo is finding favour with customers who once saw the same appeal in Japanese models.
In his analysis of Western European car sales across the first nine months of 2025, automotive researcher Matthias Schmidt found that the Japanese brands – including Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki – were losing the biggest share to the Chinese.
“The Japanese are most exposed to exactly those markets Chinese OEMs are targeting most aggressively: Spain, Italy and the UK,” Schmidt said.
The Japanese originally won over buyers with higher manufacturing quality than the incumbents, but now the brands are seeing similar disruption from the Chinese, who are leveraging their lower cost base to bring new tech for less money.
“The Japanese came in with better cars, but they got to their level and didn't go further,” David Green, head of strategy at Geely-owned Lynk&Co, told Autocar. “China comes in with better cars and they've done what Japan did to the UK car industry. They're engineered better, better finished, with better materials, better layouts, better entertainment, better quality and just more stuff.”
However, the Japanese still have a very strong brand presence in the UK, Europe and globally and are using the Tokyo show to strengthen that and demonstrate they can still impress on the technological front.
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