Foreign automakers see their chance in Japan with electric vehicles

DeNA Co

17/02/2022 07:41

By Maki Shiraki
    TOKYO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - In September, Narumi Abe did
something still rare in Japan: she bought a foreign car, picking
a Peugeot e-208 over a Honda e because, she said, the Peugeot
can travel longer distances between charges.
    Abe joined a tiny, but growing, band of Japanese drivers who
are eschewing home brands for foreign battery electric vehicles
(EVs). 
    While the trend is unlikely to make a big dent in overall
sales, it highlights a perception that many domestic automakers
have been slower to embrace battery EVs, focusing instead on
hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cells and alternative fuel for internal
combustion engines.
    "I wanted to buy something that would be best for the
environment," said the 30-year-old, who runs a company in Tokyo
selling farm produce.
    Toyota has committed 8 trillion yen ($69 billion) on
electrification up to 2030 and expects to sell around 3.5
million battery EVs worldwide by then. That represents around a
third of Toyota's current annual auto sales.
    Germany's Volkswagen AG  VOWG_p.DE  predicts half its cars
will be battery EVs by then.
    Nine tenths of the five million cars sold annually in Japan
are from domestic firms such as Toyota Motor Corp  7203.T ,
Honda Motor Co  7267.T  and Nissan Motor Co  7201.T .
    But while overall car sales in Japan, not including small
light vehicles, dipped 3.2% last year, sales of foreign models
rose 1.7%. Imports of battery EVs jumped almost three times to a
record 8,610 vehicles, according to the Japan Automobile
Importers Association.
    Analysts estimate around half of those were Tesla Inc  
 TSLA.O  cars. Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, is one of
the foreign makers that see a battery-EV opening in Japan.
    It plans to sell more than a dozen such models in Japan by
2024, including cheaper Audi and Volkswagen sports utility
models this year that will target a broader swathe of consumers,
country manager Matthias Schepers told a news conference in
January.
    It expects battery EVs to account for a third of Audi sales,
or around 10,000 vehicles, in Japan for 2025, he said. The VW
group will expand the installation of fast chargers to 250 of
its own showrooms by the end of this year, he said.
    Stellantis  STLA.MI , the owner of the Peugeot brand that
Abe bought, is also expanding its line-up in Japan, with two new
models going on sale this year.
    They are being joined by South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co
 005380.KS , which this month said it is returning to Japan 12
years after it left because of poor sales. Japanese drivers will
be able to order its Nexo SUV hydrogen fuel cell EV and its
Ioniq 5 midsize crossover battery EV from May.
    To bolster its chance of success this time round, the South
Korean company has tied up with a car sharing service operated
by online social gaming company DeNA Co  2432.T  and insurance
company Sompo Holdings  8630.T  to let Hyundai owners rent out
their zero emission cars.

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Sales growth of imported battery EVs in Japan    https://tmsnrt.rs/3oVCzKy
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 (Reporting by Maki Shiraki, writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by
David Dolan and Neil Fullick)
 ((tim.kelly@thomsonreuters.com; +813-6441-1311;))