As the shift to EVs accelerates, Japanese automakers' market share is plunging worldwide. While Chinese automaker BYD advances, Toyota is downsizing its structure through joint-venture consolidation, and the impact is becoming apparent in ASEAN and Europe.
Pure gasoline vehicles fell below 50% of the global automotive market for the first time, while EVs expanded to 17%. Japan's domestic EV penetration is lagging at approximately 3%, leaving Japanese automakers behind this trend.
Japanese automakers' share has lost momentum in China. NEVs accounted for the core of new-vehicle sales in September, led by BYD. As of August, Toyota was down 22.8% year on year and had fallen to less than one-quarter of BYD's scale.
Japanese automakers' share declined in ASEAN. In Thailand, in particular, it fell below 70% to 69.3% in 2025, while Toyota's standalone share remained at 37.0%. In Indonesia and Vietnam as well, the momentum of Chinese EVs is taking share from Japanese vehicles.
In Europe, Chinese automakers surpassed Japanese automakers for the first time as EV adoption progressed. Developments in August 2026 included declining share for some Japanese automakers and moves to transfer production capacity at the Sunderland plant in the UK to a local automaker.
In the United States, Japanese automakers account for approximately 40% of new-vehicle sales overall, but the proportion of gasoline vehicles is declining. Changes in the institutional and trade environments between Japan and the United States are attracting attention as key factors affecting next-generation component supply and the shift toward software-defined vehicles.