Honda Civic is successful globally, but why is it criticized by the Japanese?

Honda Civic Si 2022 is highly appreciated for its operation and design in many countries, but not in Japan – Photo: Honda

Honda Civic used to be the best-selling sedan model in the US for the last 6 years and led the C-segment segment for 12 years. In any region of the world, the car is also a fierce competitor of Toyota Corolla – the most successful car line in the history of the global automobile village in the above period, except in Japan.

Japan is probably the only market in the world where many automakers see high-end models being more expensive than popular cars. More Japanese users buy Toyota Alphard than Honda Civic, with a ratio of up to 17:1, while the price difference between these two models as we can tell is quite far. Even when compared to a minivan from Honda, the Freed, the sales ratio between the two cars is still 10:1.

Toyota Alphard is popular in Japan for its versatility. Even players often customize this model in many different styles – Photo: WapCar

In fact, the Honda Civic’s limitation in Japan is largely due to the Japanese consumer’s taste, precisely their indifference to sedans.

Expensive real estate, limited parking space, congested city traffic and a reliance on imported oil have led the Japanese government to limit Japanese consumers from owning as much of their own cars as possible, and instead which encourages public transport.

As for users, those living in urban areas in Japan mainly live in high-rise buildings with limited or even no parking. Free overnight parking is rare, even in the suburbs.

Parking in Japan is very limited – Photo: Sugoi

In addition to being difficult to find overnight parking, car owners in Japan also have to pay a lot of fees such as inspection fees (very expensive after the 5th year of ownership), city parking fees (one-time payments, does not apply to kei) or vehicle recycling fee.

All of the above reasons force the Japanese, either to buy a kei, or to buy the most comprehensive and versatile vehicle possible. Minivans are so popular with them partly because of their outstanding practicality.

However, that does not explain the failure of the Honda Civic. In the first quarter of this year, Honda sold less than 2,000 Civic units (hatchback because the sedan is no longer available here) while rival Toyota Corolla achieved 133,420 vehicles.

There is no denying the parameters Toyota announced including the Corolla Cross and other versions of the car as one, but we can see too clearly the difference between the two cars.

The Honda N-Box is typical for kei cars – the most popular Japanese car model today – Photo: Honda

The answer lies in the fact that Honda conquers Japanese users not with Civic, Accord and not CR-V. Their weapon is a kei car, specifically a Honda N-Box. This line has been the best-selling car in Japan for the past 6 years and has become the face of Honda in the domestic market.

Finally, the price of the Honda Civic in Japan can be considered too high compared to its direct competitor. The figure of 3.19 million yen (572.5 million dong) is one and a half times higher than the same level Toyota Corolla (2.17 million yen, equivalent to 389.5 million dong).