Car Features - Japanese Branded Cars Not Sold in Japan

If there is one market that is hard to enter for most foreign brands, it would be Japan. Although luxury brands from Europe and Volkswagen had found success, the Americans and Hyundai struggled especially Hyundai pulled out back in 2009 and Ford will withdraw the Japanese market by the end of this year. Yes, the Japanese may be somewhat patriotic but they also love foreign goods which match their market.

While the Japanese market had been the epitome of vehicle technologies such as hybrid engines, navigation systems inside the cars, adaptive cruise controls, turbocharging, among others; car sales had been falling ever since the youth aren't interested on owning a car (their public transportation is very efficient to begin with). Japanese branded vehicles are hits outside the country with examples like the Toyota Camry as the best selling car in the US, Japanese pickup trucks are best sellers in Thailand, Suzukis are widespread in India, and New Zealand favors Toyotas. With the country exporting a large number of new and used vehicles, nearly everyone has a taste of what the Japanese has to offer.

In this article, we shall discover Japanese branded vehicles sold in the Philippines which are not sold in Japan which covers brands that are either existing or gone which includes Daihatsu, Honda, Isuzu, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota. We are including the cases of the Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord which have two different versions aimed for markets outside Japan. Another case is the usage of a Japanese market name for a vehicle not sold there, which we will include in this list. Last one is whether that particular generation of the vehicle is not sold in the Japanese market.

This would be a two part article with the second one be dealing with the Japanese branded cars that are also available there.

Vehicle: Honda Brio
Origin: Thailand/India
Availability in Home Market: 2011-Current
Philippine Availability: 2014-Current

Vehicle: Honda Brio Amaze
Origin: India
Availability in Home Market: 2013-Current
Philippine Availability: 2014-Current

Vehicle: Honda City (Third and Fifth Generation)
Origin: Unknown
Availability in Home Market: 1996-2003 (for third generation model), 2008-2013 (for fifth generation model), 1981-Current (City nameplate, with a hiatus in 1995)
Philippine Availability: 1996-2003 (Third), 2009-2014 (Fifth)

Vehicle: Honda Civic (Ninth Generation onwards)
Origin: United States (although the Civic Type R Euro is still sold in Japan)
Availability in Home Market: 2011-Current (for ninth and tenth generation model), 1972-Current (Civic nameplate as a whole, worldwide)
Philippine Availability: 2012-Current (Ninth and Tenth generation)

Vehicle: Honda Accord (Sixth Generation)
Origin: United States (different versions for Europe and Japan exist)
Availability in Home Market: 1997-2002 (for sixth generation model), 1976-Current (Accord nameplate)
Philippine Availability: 1998-2003

Vehicle: Honda Mobilio (Second Generation)
Origin: Indonesia
Availability in Home Market: 2013-Current (for second generation model)
Philippine Availability: 2015-Current

Vehicle: Honda Odyssey (Fourth Generation)
Origin: United States (different versions outside North America exist)
Availability in Home Market: 2010-Current (for sixth generation model), 1994-Current (Odyssey nameplate)
Philippine Availability: 2012-2015

Vehicle: Honda Pilot
Origin: United States
Availability in Home Market: 2002-Current
Philippine Availability: 2006-2008, 2012-Current

Vehicle: Isuzu Hilander/Crosswind
Origin: Indonesia
Availability in Home Market: 1991-Current
Philippine Availability: 1997-2001 (as Hilander), 2001-Current (as Crosswind)

Vehicle: Isuzu D-Max
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2002-Current
Philippine Availability: 2003-Current

Vehicle: Isuzu Alterra/MU-X
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2004-2013 (MU-7/Alterra), 2013-Onwards (MU-X)
Philippine Availability: 2005-Current

Vehicle: Lexus ES
Origin: Japan for outside export (its predecessors were sold as the Toyota Windom)
Availability in Home Market: 1989-Current
Philippine Availability: 2009-Current

Vehicle: Lexus GX
Origin: Japan for outside export
Availability in Home Market: 2002-Current
Philippine Availability: 2009-Current

Vehicle: Mazda CX-9
Origin: United States
Availability in Home Market: 2006-Current
Philippine Availability: 2007-Current

Vehicle: Mazda BT-50
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2006-Current
Philippine Availability: 2008-Current

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Mirage G4
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2013-Current
Philippine Availability: 2013-Current

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Galant (Ninth Generation)
Origin: United States
Availability in Home Market: 2003-2012 (for ninth generation model), 1969-2012 (Galant nameplate)
Philippine Availability: 2006-2012

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Eclipse (Fourth Generation)
Origin: United States
Availability in Home Market: 2006-2011 (for fourth generation model), 1990-2012 (Eclipse nameplate)
Philippine Availability: 2007-2011

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Adventure
Origin: Taiwan
Availability in Home Market: 1997-2005
Philippine Availability: 1998-Current

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Fuzion
Origin: Taiwan
Availability in Home Market: 2005-Current
Philippine Availability: 2007-2015

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Montero Sport (Second Generation onwards)
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2008-Current (for second and third generation model), 1996-Current (for Montero Sport nameplate)
Philippine Availability: 2008-Current

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Endeavor
Origin: United States
Availability in Home Market: 2002-2011
Philippine Availability: 2007-2009

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Strada (Fifth Generation)
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2015-Current (for fifth generation model), 1978-Current (for Strada/Triton/L200 nameplate)
Philippine Availability: 2015-Current

Vehicle: Nissan Grand Livina
Origin: China
Availability in Home Market: 2006-Current
Philippine Availability: 2008-2015

Vehicle: Nissan Patrol (Sixth Generation)
Origin: Japan for outside export
Availability in Home Market: 2010-Current (for sixth generation model), 1951-Current (for Patrol nameplate)
Philippine Availability: 2010-Current

Vehicle: Nissan Frontier
Origin: United States
Availability in Home Market: 1997-Current
Philippine Availability: 1998-Current

Vehicle: Subaru Tribeca
Origin: United States
Availability in Home Market: 2005-2014
Philippine Availability: 2008-2014

Vehicle: Suzuki Alto
Origin: India
Availability in Home Market: 2000-Current
Philippine Availability: 2007-Current

Vehicle: Suzuki Celerio
Origin: India
Availability in Home Market: 2008-Current
Philippine Availability: 2009-Current

Vehicle: Suzuki Swift Dzire
Origin: India
Availability in Home Market: 2008-Current
Philippine Availability: 2013-Current

Vehicle: Suzuki Ciaz
Origin: India
Availability in Home Market: 2014-Current
Philippine Availability: 2016-Current

Vehicle: Suzuki APV
Origin: Indonesia
Availability in Home Market: 2004-Current
Philippine Availability: 2005-Current

Vehicle: Suzuki Ertiga
Origin: India
Availability in Home Market: 2012-Current
Philippine Availability: 2014-Current

Vehicle: Toyota Wigo
Origin: Indonesia
Availability in Home Market: 2013-Current
Philippine Availability: 2014-Current

Vehicle: Toyota Yaris
Origin: Unknown
Availability in Home Market: 2013-Current
Philippine Availability: 2014-Current

Vehicle: Toyota Vios (First and Third Generation)
Origin: Japan
Availability in Home Market: 2002-2006, 2013-Current
Philippine Availability: 2003-2007, 2013-Current

Vehicle: Toyota Corolla (Tenth Generation onwards)
Origin: Japan (different models outside Japan and Hong Kong exist)
Availability in Home Market: 2006-Current (for tenth and eleventh generation model), 1966-Current (Corolla nameplate as a whole, worldwide)
Philippine Availability: 2008-Current (Tenth and Eleventh generation)

Vehicle: Toyota Avanza
Origin: Indonesia
Availability in Home Market: 2003-Current
Philippine Availability: 2006-Current

Vehicle: Toyota Tamaraw/Revo/Innova
Origin: Indonesia
Availability in Home Market: 1977-2004 (Tamaraw/Revo named as Kijang), 2005-Current (Kijang Innova)
Philippine Availability: 1991-Current

Vehicle: Toyota RAV4 (Fourth Generation)
Origin: Japan for export markets
Availability in Home Market: 2012-Current (for fourth generation model), 1994-Current (RAV4 nameplate as a whole)
Philippine Availability: 2013-Current (Fourth generation)

Vehicle: Toyota Fortuner
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2005-Current
Philippine Availability: 2005-Current

Vehicle: Toyota Hilux (Seventh Generation onwards)
Origin: Thailand
Availability in Home Market: 2004-Current (for seventh and eighth generation model), 1968-Current (Hilux nameplate as a whole, worldwide)
Philippine Availability: 2005-Current (Seventh and Eighth generation)