Comparing Japanese Car Brands in the Used Market

Let me load that data and break down the market share by country of origin.

Japanese brands account for about 25% of the used car market - the second largest segment after American brands at 43%. That's 138,000 vehicles out of 558,000 total sales. European brands are a distant third at 11%, and Korean brands (Hyundai, Kia) make up 7%.

Here's the breakdown across the six major Japanese brands:

Nissan dominates with nearly 54,000 sales - almost double Honda's volume. Toyota sits in the middle at 40,000. The smaller players (Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi) collectively account for less than Nissan alone. Nissan's fleet sales programs likely explain their lead - they're popular with rental car companies.

Let me show you the top-selling models from the big three:

The Nissan Altima crushes everything with 19,300 sales. The Toyota Camry is second at 12,500. These are America's rental car kings. Honda's spread across Accord and Civic is interesting - the Accord leads at 9,100 but the Civic is close behind at 7,400. Toyota's Corolla rounds out the compact sedan fight at 7,400. SUVs like the Rogue, CR-V, and RAV4 are strong but still trail the sedan flagships.

Here's the average selling price at auction for each brand:

Subaru commands a premium at $15,400 average - their AWD-standard lineup and loyal buyer base keeps resale high. Toyota edges out Nissan and Honda in the $11-12K range. Mitsubishi is the value play at $8,200 - about half the price of a Subaru. If you're buying used, Mitsubishi offers the cheapest entry into Japanese reliability.

Let me chart how average prices change across model years for the top three brands:

All three brands show steady appreciation for newer model years, as expected. But the interesting story is Honda - they start similar to Toyota and Nissan in 2008, but by 2014 they've pulled ahead significantly. A 2014 Honda averages $20,200 versus $17,300 for Toyota and $15,200 for Nissan. Honda's value retention is the best in the segment. If you're buying a 3-5 year old car, you'll pay a Honda premium - but you'll also get more back when you sell.