Japan # 39; love small cars like Trump sore spot, Abe meeting February 10, 2017
Trump wants more American cars in Japan Don t pilot in Japan.
Yoshihiro Masui a Ford hot rod his love of American cars is rare in Japan Credit Ko Sasaki for The New York Times.
grunts Ford hot rod TOKYO Yoshihiro Masui, its sides decorated with the Stars and Stripes, reflects his love of American cars an unusual passion in Japan, where Toyota, Honda and other national brands rule the roads.
Japanese cars don t fail, but they're boring, said Mr Masui, 67, music producer semiretired Besides the hot-rod a replica Model T with the engine of a race car, it owns a bright white Ford Thunderbird last nearly 70 Detroit- vehicles, it appears that he has bought and sold over the years.
Detroit pines for a day when the sight of an American car in a Japanese street is notable. not
Even as Japanese cars have taken much of the US market, American brands are barely visible in Japan, a situation that has long frustrated the American auto executives and trade negotiators and became a renewed source political friction under President Trump.
M. Trump accuses Japan of close on US producers, casting regulatory barriers and faked the foreign exchange market for the Japanese brand they us things that make it impossible to sell cars in Japan, he said during a meeting with US officials last month.
Such talk is alarming in Japan, where the auto industry is a pillar of the economy When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met M. Trump starting Friday, avoiding a trade war will be at the top of its agenda of government Abe was floating proposals such as the use of the Japanese pension money to finance Mr. Trump infrastructure plans that could coax the President and help offset large trade surplus of Japan.
For the Japanese, M. Trump trade barriers on accusations may seem odd.
Of course, American cars don t sell in Japan, said Mr Masui, whose admiration for American vehicles do not cover their manufacturers marketing strategies.
American cars have a bad image they aren t fuel efficient, they break down, he said that is not really true, but the gift dealers t make an effort to convince people that I did never seen a TV commercial You go to a car show, they're not there.
Cars are definitely not in the streets of almost five million cars and light trucks sold in Japan last year, only 15,000 were Americans, or 0 3 percent Toyota sells more vehicles in a single mega-concession California.
Masato Suzuki runs a car dealership in Machida, a western suburb of Tokyo who specializes in US imports His lot is lined with hulking Lincoln Navigator SUV, cargo vans full size and muscle cars like Dodge Chargers and Ford Mustang These are the kind of American vehicles that people buy in Japan, when they buy them everything he said his customers are mainly men.
I mean fondly, but they're a little unusual, he said I guess we're a little unusual to sell those cars, too.
the concession of M. Suzuki, Glide, opened 24 years ago, when Detroit's reputation for quality was small cars have failed every time customers were still angry against us, he said Glide has since opened two branches, but they only deal with European cars, which are more popular in Japan.
M. Suzuki said he would like to expand its offerings to smaller, American vehicles more budget friendly of its kind that are clean staple auto industry in Japan, and most Japanese hard, but he doesn t think that they would sell.
Rooted skepticism about American reliability of cars and energy efficiency is another problem is the price M. Suzuki said he did not know if Japan was deliberately weaken the yen, as Mr. Trump, but agrees with US President that a strong currency is better for Japanese sales of American cars.
Japanese cars don t fail, but they're boring, Yoshihiro Masui said he believes he has bought and sold about 70 vehicles made in America Credit Ko Sasaki for The New York Times.
When the yen surged after the global financial crisis of 2008, making imports cheaper for Japanese buyers, Glide imported about 100 vehicles per month Now with the lowest new yen, it brings only a tenth more .
Most of the time, for the same price, a Japanese car is a better deal, he said.
Advocates Japan Business Practices notes that Japan imposes no border taxes on cars, while the United States add 2 5 percent tariff on Japanese imports and they point to the relative success of European brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW and others have captured about 6 percent of the Japanese market, mostly in the luxury end.
German cars are very popular in Japan, but American cars just to sell at all, Akio Mimura, president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said at a news conference this month if they go selling cars in Japan, they obviously need to make an effort to attract Japanese customers.
Yet if automakers complain, even Europeans that the Japanese market can be tough going, with taxes, safety standards and other rules they deem favorable to domestic producers Negotiators from the European Union are pressure Japan on structural issues in the negotiations on a proposed trade agreement.
An example is leading in many countries, it is common practice for drivers to keep their headlights on during the day, for safety reasons Many DRL Car will connect automatically when starting the engine.
Japan, however, took the opposite approach Keeping years headlights during the day was illegal that foreign automakers have had to disable meant the automatic function on the cars they exported to Japan, an additional production shutdown adds costs.
Kenji Kobayashi, executive director of the Association of Automobile Importers in Japan, which represents foreign automakers in Japan, said structural barriers are lower than they were Japan scrapped the ban on the DRL last year, after negotiations with the association.
It also reduces the tax benefits it gives to microcars category called kei cars, which account for about a third of domestic sales and are only made by Japanese automakers Change is a difference Kei sales fell 9 percent last year.
The approach of M. Trump to trade is probably slowing progress.
During negotiations on the TPP, the Pacific Rim trade agreement M. Trump gave up after he took office, Japan agreed to accept more American automobile safety standards and streamline import vehicles certification procedures but now that the United States withdrew these concessions are at risk.
M. Kobayashi sees a difference between the European and American efforts to attract Japanese car buyers European brands and aggressive advertising have done more to customize their products to Japan, for example by producing drive right versions of their vehicles a point sale seems obvious, in a country where the lane is left, that US producers have long been criticized for ignoring.
The best-selling American brand in Japan is Jeep, which last year accounted for nearly half of US auto sales there It offers motor vehicles right a legacy custom vans once done for the US Postal Service, which allow the driver to get out on US borders instead of the road.
Catching Europeans require investments that US automakers are increasingly reluctant to do, M. Kobayashi said Ford scrapped its small dealer network last year, and focuses in China.
China is large and growing, and foreign brands are there putting their efforts, said M. Kobayashi.
M. Masui, car collector with souped up Model T, said he likes everything about America before the 1960 cars, furniture, music, all he could agree with President Trump But he said US automakers should stop complaining about trade barriers and focus on the most basic tasks making them attractive cars and convince people to buy them.
M. Trump is interesting, he said, but what he says on cars is simply bizarre.
A picture caption with an article Friday on the difficulties of selling American cars in Japan incorrectly refers to a quotation As the article correctly noted, the source of the quote was President Trump, no Yoshihiro Masui, a Japanese devotee of American cars, and M. Trump said that Japan, not Detroit, did things that make it impossible for automakers from the United States to sell cars in Japan.
A version of this article appears in the press on February 10, 2017, on page B1 of the New York edition with the title of the paper Trouble turning a corner reprints Today Registration Order.
Trump wants more American cars in Japan, asset, wants US.